To Regain His Trust
by Fireena
Summary: An AU fic, no Yaoi, just parental and brotherly.  They've been alone for three years ever since their father murdered their mother, but Al doesn't know it was him, so he doesn't understand why Edward hates their father so much. First multichapter fic.
1. A Typical Day

It was dark and rainy, as it always was when it neared the end of November. Most people were at home, small children getting ready for bed, adults settling down for the evening; no one was out.

Or rather, almost no one was out. Had one of the adults or children looked out their windows, they might have caught a glimpse of a young boy wearing a long red coat, hands in his pockets as he stared at the ground, and a slightly taller figure, only taller by a few centimeters, and from a distance, if you didn't know any better, you could mistake him as his shadow.

But the other figure was not the first one's shadow, it was his younger brother, Alphonse, and the first one's name was Edward.

It was late for them to be out, but Edward had landed an after school detention, and his brother, though only a year younger than him, didn't want to walk home alone without his brother.

Edward Elric, 10 years old, wore black boots, black pants, and a black shirt, long sleeved with a high collar, and edged with white, overtop of which he wore a long red overcoat with a mysterious black symbol on the back. He had long blonde hair that he kept in a braid, and his eyes were about the same golden shade, and over his hands, though you couldn't see them as they were tucked into his pockets, he wore white gloves over them at all times.

Alphonse Elric, 9 years old, wore plain jeans and a t-shirt, and had a black leather jacket on. His hair was darker than his brothers, and it was tied back into a long, high ponytail, and his eyes were a warm, smoldering grey. Though he was younger, he was a little taller than his brother, but he was a lot more skittish. His brother had a reputation for starting fights, Al would do almost anything to avoid one.

"Hang on, Al," the older boy murmured to his younger brother as they walked, "almost there now,"

"I know, Brother," Al muttered and stayed close to the older of the two.

"Heheheh, hey, Alphonse, whose your girlfriend?" came a voice from behind them.

The two brothers spun around and saw a group of boys from school. It was Friday, and they seemed to have snuck out as usual.

"Hey, he's not-" Alphonse started, but was cut off by his brothers arm stopping in front of him.

"Don't even bother bother with them, Al, even if you tried to, they're idiots, and probably wouldn't remember anything. They're nothing more than a bunch of brainless morons," he told his brother.

"What was that, Pipsqueak?" the leader of the group shouted.

"Don't call me small!" Edward retaliated.

"Oooh, little Girly-Boy's got a temper," he mocked.

"Why you-!" the older Elric brought his right arm back to swing at the taller boys face.

"No, Brother! Don't do it!" Al pleaded as he reached for his older siblings right arm, fear flitting across his face.

Edward lowered his arm and sighed, looking back at his brother with a sad smile on his face. The gang laughed and Ed spun around and punched their leader square in the nose with his left hand.

"Your lucky Al was here, or your face would really be screwed up," Edward threatened as he turned away, motioning for his brother to follow and they turned the corner to their house.

"You won't get away with this you little punk!" the others threatened, but the Elrics both ignored them.

"Thanks, Al," Edward looked at his brother who was breathing rather frantically, "do you need your inhaler?" he asked.

"No, I'm fine," the younger answered honestly as he took a deep breath, "and your welcome, Brother," he muttered.

The two walked in silence until they came to their house and walked over the threshold, "we're home," Alphonse called sadly inside as he shed his jacket and hung it up.

"You finished your homework, right Al?" Edward asked as he hung up his own coat.

"Yep, and you?"

"Done, only thing to do in detention anyway,"

The boys went upstairs to the room they shared. It was plenty spacious for them both to lay out their things without bothering the other, so there were few arguments about that.

"Well if you didn't fight so much..." Al started as he got dressed for bed.

"Don't start that, Al! He had it coming to him!" Edward snapped as he came out of the closet, dressed in long sleeping pants and shirt, his ever present gloves on his hands, and he had removed his shoes and just had on his socks.

Al sighed, "Brother, I don't see why you feel the need to...I mean we're in our own house...It's not like I haven't seen-" Al trailed of abruptly and blushed slightly as he realized how it sounded, but Edward completely missed it and only saw his brothers red face.

The older Elric walked across the room and pulled off his left glove before placing it on his brothers forehead, "are you feeling alright, Al?" he asked worriedly.

"I'm fine, Brother, I'm not sick," the younger boy pushed his brothers hand away gently.

"Are you sure? Your awfully red,"

"It's nothing," Al assured him, "anyway, why won't you take off your glove, or even your sock for that matter?"

"Al, you know why," Ed rubbed his forehead with his left hand, the two of them had this same discussion a few times a week, and it always ended up the same way.

"I know why you won't at school, but no ones here but us, and I know what happened, dammit, I saw it, Brother!" Al looked up at his brother from where he was seated on his bed.

"Watch your mouth, Al, you don't want to end up with a bad reputation," Edward reprimanded his younger brother.

"But-"

"Drop it, Al!" Edward snapped as he left the room, the door closing with a snap, leaving his younger brother alone in the dark.

*********************************

Al lay awake until he could no longer keep his eyes open. He had wanted to wait until his brother had come in so he could apologize, but it seemed the older Elric was going to sleep on the couch, so late that night, Al finally drifted off to sleep. 


	2. Nightmares

**Wow. Never expected the story to actually start off the way it did. 2 reviews shortly after I posted the first chapter. Hope this keeps up! Anyway, here's chapter two. Enjoy!**

Edward awoke to a frightened cry from upstairs and though at first he didn't know what it was, he quickly realized that that cry could only be one other person, and he ran upstairs to the room where his brother slept. He turned the light on low and saw his brother, tossing and turning as he muttered things Ed couldn't make out, but none the less he walked over and tried to wake him up.

"Al," his throat was dry so he spoke quietly as a result, but after a minute or so his brothers eyes snapped open, only to shut again quickly as the younger boy tried to hold back tears.

Edward handed his brother a tissue, scolding himself for being such an idiot, 'you know how he can get if he's alone, you couldn't have just waited until he was asleep, could you?' he shook his head before opening his eyes which he hadn't realized he'd shut, and saw the warm grey eyes if his brother looking at him sadly.

"You gonna be alright, Al?" he asked in a whisper.

Al nodded weakly before sniffing a few times and then launching himself at his brother, tears falling freely, his hair had come loose from its hair tie, so it was lying on his shoulders and cascading down his upper back. Ed rubbed his brothers back gently for a moment before Alphonse pulled back muttering his apologies.

"Al, what're you talking about?" Ed felt guilt well up in his chest.

"I-I shouldn't have...I'm sorry you...That I disturbed you..." Al muttered as he turned and looked at the clock, "you should try and get some more sleep, Brother,"

Edward reached his arm out to gently touch his younger brothers shoulder, "not until you tell me what you saw," he said firmly.

"Brother, this is ridiculous, you make me tell you every time, it's fine, really," Al turned to face his brother.

"Al, 'nothing' doesn't make you cry out in fear, now tell me the truth, what was it that you saw?"

Al remained silent for a moment before muttering something Edward couldn't hear.

"Speak up, Al,"

"I saw...That Night..." Al finally muttered, and Edwards grip fell from his brothers shoulder as he looked away.

"You gonna be alright?" Ed asked.

"Yes, I think I'll try to back to sleep now, and I am sorry, Brother," with that, Al snuggled down into his blankets and fell asleep almost right away.

Edward on the other hand, lay awake on his bed as he thought about 'That Night' the one that scared Al into having nightmares and left their lives in ruins.

**So, how'd you like it?** **Chapter three will be a flashback of 'That Night'. Please review. They make me smile. :D**

**Anyway, chapter three will hopefully be posted Friday or Saturday, depending on if the teachers give us a crapload of homework tomorrow.**


	3. The Night That Changed It All

**Well, here's chapter three, and the explination of what happened. Obviously since this is AU, this didn't actually happen in the anime or manga, but I hope it was alright. As for Al's little issue, I wrote this out without even thinking about if that might be a actual solution, but for the sake of this FanFic, lets just say it is, alright?**

**Hope you like it, and obviously I dont own FMA. I cant draw worth shit, so...**

It had happened about three years ago, back when their family was whole.

Their dad, Hohenheim, was a drunk, and would get completely wasted on weekends. Despite this, his sons, who didn't understand at the time, both looked up to him with reverence.

Their mother, Trisha, was frustrated with her husbands habit, but she still loved him. She had light chestnut colored hair and was very sweet and caring.

To anyone else who didn't know about Hohenheim's drinking habits, they would seem like the perfect family. No one could have predicted the night everything changed.

It was late on a Saturday and Hohenheim had more to drink than normal. The boys had gone to their rooms, as they had separate rooms back then, but they were far from asleep.

They heard arguing and shouting from downstairs, and as the night wore on there was the sound of people throwing things and Hohenheim began threatening Trisha and that was when Al really got frightened. He ran downstairs, followed closely behind by his older brother who was trying to get him to stop.

Al ran downstairs and through the darkness of the room, saw his mother on the floor, a man Al couldn't identify had a gun pointed at her and Al began to cry.

Edward came down the stairs and saw his mother being held at gunpoint, and in a moment of desperation he rushed forward between the gun and his mother, and in that split second that the gun was shot, the shadowed face of the man could be seen by Edward, though Al couldn't see it, the older boy was shocked to see it was his father pulling the trigger and the bullet went clear through his leg, at about mid-thigh level and continued on to hit Trisha Elric, who died as the bullet hit her in the chest.

At the sight of seeing his mother die and his brother shot by a shadowed figure, Al screamed, so the figure turned to him and was about shoot, when Edward pushed him out of the way and got the bullet in the shoulder. The young boy tried not to cry, but still tears fell as he told his little brother to call 911.

Alphonse ran to the phone to call 911 while his brother tried to avoid being strangled by his own father. Luckily, the emergency vehicles came quickly and the police rushed in to see Hohenheim strangling a small boy while there was a woman on the floor a few feet away, blood pouring from a wound in her chest.

"Stop! Anything you say or do can and will be used against you in a court of law!" the officer yelled, holding his gun out at the blond man.

"First you'll have to get me in a court of law," Hohenheim laughed, "and I'm not going so easily," the man pulled out his gun and pointed it at Edwards head, "if anyone moves, this kids brains will be all over the wall," he threatened as he walked to the window and jumped out, running into the woods.

The majority of the officers ran to follow the man, but a few stayed where they were. One of the officers ran to Trisha, but declared her dead when he saw what happened. One woman kneeled down by Edward and gently asked him, "hey, were you the one who called, little guy?" she asked.

Edward looked up and shook his head, his eyes wide in terror as he tried to stand up, unfortunately the bullet wound in his leg prevented him from getting anywhere and as he fell to the ground he shouted out his brothers name, "Al!" he shouted again desperately and his younger brother ran into the room, clutching the phone tightly in fear.

"Brother!" Al ran to his brother, tears falling down his face as he hugged his older brother.

"It's alright, Al, we'll be alright," Edward put his left hand reassuringly on his brothers shoulder.

"Son, you gotta let go of your brother there, he needs medical treatment," one of the emergency personnel told him, gently pulling Alphonse from his brother, much to his dismay.

"No! No, let me go! Brother!" Alphonse cried a he reached for his brother who was starting to get dizzy from the blood loss.

"Come on, kid, we're getting both of you to the hospital," the emergency personnel told them.

"What about mom? And where's dad?" Alphonse asked.

The police officers looked at each other nervously, but before they could tell him anything, Edward fell unconscious and they had to get him to the hospital.

When Edward had finally come to, nearly a week afterwards, he came to a shocking realization; his right arm and left leg, were gone. He couldn't help it, the loss of his mother, arm and leg, all because of his father, and that his brother was probably worried, he couldn't stand it, and screamed.

A nurse rushed into the room and saw the boy leaning up against the bed, crying and muttering the same things, "mom...dad...Al..."

The nurse walked to him and placed one hand on his left shoulder, "it'll be alright, you'll see," she told him and he looked up at her with tears in his eyes.

"W-where's Al?" he asked, "where's my brother?" he glared at her accusingly, as if it was her fault his brother wasn't there.

"Al? You mean Alphonse?" she asked.

"What did you do with him? Where is he?" he demanded.

"Brother?" a tentative voice asked, getting the older ones attention immediately.

"Al? Al, are you alright?" Edward moved to get out of bed, but the nurse stopped him before he did.

"That's a better question for me to ask you, they took away your arm and leg, and you've been sleeping since Saturday!" the younger brother walked to the edge of his brothers bed and stood there worriedly. He wanted to hug his brother, but he also didn't want to hurt him, or get in trouble like the last time he'd given his older brother a hug, a few days ago when he was still unconscious.

Edward looked at his brother who had wrapped his arms around himself. He knew that position, and he motioned for his brother to come closer, and he wrapped his arm around his brothers shoulder in a one armed hug.

Alphonse's eyes went wide at the sudden contact before he returned the hug, hanging on tightly as tears started running down his face.

Edward winced slightly at the tightness of his brothers hug putting pressure on his shoulder, but said nothing; his brother was frightened, and if the only way to comfort him was this, then so be it.

"I'll just inform the doctor your awake, he wants to talk to you about a few things," the nurse said as she left the room.

A few minutes later, Alphonse was sitting on his brothers bed, his tears had been wiped away, though his breathing sounded a little off; more strained and panicked. The doctor came in and saw the older one looking at the ground sadly.

"So, Edward Elric, hm?" he asked, whispering something to the nurse who coaxed Al out of the room.

"Where are you taking my brother?" the blonde demanded.

"Just need to run a few tests, make sure he's alright, it was quite the ordeal you two have been through, and poor Alphonse was witness to it all, so there may be a few psychological factors to it, but hopefully nothing that's going to prevent him from doing anything he would had this not happened, as for you..."

"As you know, we had to amputate, or rather, remove your left leg and right arm, because of where you were shot, and how the bullets were made, had we not done this, you would have contracted blood poisoning, and could have died. We have arranged for you to get a new type of prosthetic, called automail, which can be installed as early as tomorrow, though I could understand if you want to wait-"

"No," the boy interrupted.

"What?"

"I don't want to wait, I want it done as soon as possible...Did they catch the Bastard who did this?" he finished.

"Are you aware of who it was?" the doctor asked, realizing that it was possible the boy hadn't seen who had nearly killed him.

"It was that Bastard, the one who claims to be our father," the boy spat, "what did he do to Al, and mom! Is she gonna..."

"She's gone, Edward, and besides from some slight mental trauma, Alphonse is fine," the doctor told him sadly, expecting the boy to start crying, but instead he just nodded sadly, "what sort of mental trauma?" he demanded, keeping his voice steady.

"Uh, well, he's had nightmares, especially when you were in separate rooms, when you were in surgery, and recovering, though when you shared a room, he seemed much better," the doctor sighed, "has your brother had problems with breathing that you know of, such as his throat closing up or hyperventilating when he's frightened or stressed?"

"No, why? Is he now?" the boy raised his head, his gold eyes shining in fear.

"Well, yes...It may go away, but we can give him some medicine to help if it doesn't, now, as for the automail you'll be needing, it takes about 3 years typically to get fully adjusted to using it,"

"I can't leave Al for three years with no one to help him, one year, that's all," the boy said stubbornly.

And so, all that year, though everyone told him to slow down, he worked hard, and by the end of the year, he had both his automail arm and leg working perfectly, and the two went back to their house, and sold some furniture and such before moving their beds into the same room to prevent Al's nightmares and in three years, not a lot had changed.

Their father was still out there, and the two still shared a room, and the most surprising thing of all, was that even though everyone in town knew about the murder of Trisha Elric, and they guessed the murderer had taken Hohenheim, being gifted at his work and all, it never seemed to clue in to the townspeople that the two boys were alone.

Ed shook his head to rid himself of the memories before rolling over and falling asleep. Though it was three years now, he could still remember it as though it had happened just yesterday.


	4. Leaving

**Hm. Thought there'd have been more of a response to chapter 3. *shrugs* whatever than.**

**Anyway, sorry it took so long, but I had a shitload of homework and studying, and I probably STILL failed both my tests *cries* anyway, I will be posting these faster because I have a chapter I want to put out on Christmas. Please review when your finished reading.**

The next morning Edward and Alphonse went to the store for some groceries. Upon returning they noticed a police car in front of their house, and went to investigate.

"Hey, kid!" an officer shouted, "you know the guys who live here?"

Al moved forward to answer, but his brother grabbed his shoulder, "so what if we do? What's it to ya?" Ed asked rudely.

"Where are they kid? We're lookin' for two kids, Edward and Alphonse Elric," he said.

"Well how will you know if you've found them? And why do you want them anyway?" Edward crossed his arms defiantly.

"We have a description of them, Edward Elric, age 10, blond hair, gold eyes. Alphonse Elric, age 9, dark blond hair, grey eyes, and the reason is classified, not for civilians to know," the officer read off the paper in his hand and looked at the boys; Ed was standing with his arms crossed, his golden eyes burning, and Al was just behind him, cowering slightly, his grey eyes wide in fright.

"So, your planning on telling the Elric's why you need them, but you won't tell us huh? So which is it?" Edward asked.

"W-wait, your the Elric's? But...They must have gotten it mixed up! Your eyes are grey, not gold," he said, pointing at Alphonse.

"The facts you read were correct, it's you that isn't...I'm the older one, not him," Edward told him, "Now what do you want?"

"We have had it brought to our attention that the two of you have been living alone for about 3 years now, correct?" Al nodded, "well, we are bringing you in under the care of the military,"

"Not a chance! We've been doing fine so far, why after three years are you suddenly deciding to do something?" Edward asked.

"I dunno, kid, but orders are orders, and your coming with me," the man said, reaching for Edwards wrist, but instead grabbed Alphonse's, but since he needed him anyway, he pulled him to the police vehicle, and amazingly enough, Edward followed behind, not wanting to leave his little brother alone.

The drive to the city was a long one, and it was after about two hours of driving that they realized that all they had were the clothes on their backs, and two bags of groceries.

"Hey, will we be going back home? We left all our stuff behind, and don't have any clothes with us," Al asked.

"Don't worry kiddo, there'll be clothes at the orphanage, and when you get out, then I'm sure whatever family adopts you will provide you with clothes," the driver told them.

"Hey! Don't even start with that! We are not going to some orphanage, much less get adopted by someone!" Edward snarled.

"Yeah, Dad said he'd be back, I heard him!" Alphonse argued.

"Al, shut up about him, will ya? He's not coming back! Ever!" Edward yelled angrily at his younger brother as he stared out the window.

"Your father is Hohenheim, right?" the man asked.

"Yeah, but they said that the murderer kidnapped him or something," Al muttered.

"Really? That's not what I heard. I heard that Hohenheim-"

"I said SHUT IT!" Edward glared at the driver, daring him to tell his brother more about that night.

"Calm down, Brother," Al said. And the rest of the trip it was mostly silent. 


	5. Panic Attacks

**Well, here's chapter five. Not the longest chapter I've written, but it definitely isnt the shortest.**

**Now, introducing...Several more characters from FMA! Because I'm too lazy to read through it and type out everyone's name!**

**I know that its probably the only multichapter fic I've written, but this has quite a few reviews. Reviews and comments make me smile. :)**

**Anyway, on forth with the chapter!**

"So, these are the boys, hm?" a dark haired man asked.

"Yes sir," the man who had driven the boys saluted the other.

"Well, it shouldn't be too hard to find an orphanage that'll take them, there quite small for their ages, especially the older one," the dark haired man smirked and the older boy snapped, he grabbed a knife that had been laying there from the mans lunch and gripped it tightly in his hand, but was stopped when he saw a blonde woman standing behind the man, pointing a gun at him, safety was off.

The short blond dropped the knife in shock, his eyes went wide and unseeing as he saw in his mind the barrel of the gun from that night.

The adults and Alphonse looked at the small boy. He had dropped the knife and stepped back and fell before he started shaking violently. He remained like that for a moment and the blonde woman turned the safety back on with a click and it got worse until there was a shot from the training field that rung out loud and clear, and the boy went to stand, but fell to his knees, hands clutching his hair as he screamed in terror.

"What the Hell?" yelled the dark haired man.

"B-B-Brother?" the younger boy called, not sure whether or not to touch him.

"What is going on here?" another man with dark hair and glasses entered the room and saw the two boys kneeling on the floor, one obviously scared and the other it looked like he was starting to have trouble breathing.

"B-Brother, wh-where'd you...?" the second choked out.

"Roy, what did you do?" the second man asked the one who was staring at the boys in shock.

"I didn't do anything! At least, nothing that would cause this! I called the older one short and he came at me with a knife before reducing to this!" the first man, Roy yelled defensively at his friend.

"B-Brother, please...I-I can't...I can't breathe, Brother," the younger boy started to tear up, and it seemed that the sound of his voice awakened something in the older one and he stopped shaking and looked at his brother who had tears streaming down his face and was pulling at the collar of his shirt in desperation to get more air. The older brother searched his pockets and pulled out an inhaler and handed it to his brother, keeping his hand on it as his brother put it in his mouth and breathed deeply while pushing down the button to release the medicine.

"Damn, sorry, Al...Guess I'm not much of a brother, can't even realize my own brother can't breathe..." the blond said guiltily as he pocketed the inhaler.

"No, it wasn't your fault," Al assured him breathlessly.

The dark haired man with glasses reached his hand down to help the boys up, but only Alphonse accepted the mans hand, and then reached down to help his brother, who accepted the help.

"Now then, as we were discussing, we need to figure out where you two are going to stay until we can find an orphanage to take you in," Roy had sat back down in his chair, but kept staring at the slightly shorter boy who had started rubbing his shoulder.

"Here's a thought; you let us go back home, and we never have this discussion again," Edward suggested.

"We can't allow that, kid. Hughes, do you have any ideas?" Roy turned to the man with glasses who smiled.

"I need to make a phone call," he said as he walked out of the room.

"Hughes!" Roy shouted and then sighed, "so, on another subject, I read up a bit on your history, and noticed that you were witness and near-victim to a murder; I need to know, would you testify against the man who did this, considering your ties to him?"

"Al, leave," Edward said sternly glaring at the man in front of him.

"Brother, what is he talking about? Did you know him?" Alphonse asked.

"Now, Al!" the older brother pointed to the door, and the younger boy walked out the door, escorted by the man who had driven them there.

"Don't you dare tell him anything about that night! He doesn't need to know that that man killed our mom, and then tried to kill him! If you catch him, I'll testify, but you keep my brother out of this, got it?" Edward shouted, sitting on the couch, wincing as he rubbed his shoulder.

"What's wrong with your shoulder?" Roy asked.

"Promise me you'll keep him out of this!" Edward pressed.

"Fine, I'll keep him out of this unless your father comes after you again and your brother is a target," Roy agreed.

"I won't let that happen, that bastard won't get anywhere near Al," Ed said with a determined look on his face.

"Roy, we're coming in!" Hughes announced and he walked in with his hand on Alphonse's shoulder and a big smile on his face, "you'll never believe it, Roy, my wife is so amazing! Why, when I called her just now, she-"

"On military lines, Hughes? You know that's only for military matters," the blonde woman's hand twitched to her gun, but the man held up his hands in defense.

"Hold on, Hawkeye! This was military matters, strictly to what we were talking about. We needed to find a place for these two to stay, right?" Hughes put his other hand on Edwards right shoulder, only for him to tense up and twist away.

"Yes, did your wife have an idea?" Roy asked.

"She certainly did! We have a few extra rooms, so she suggested that they stay with us! We can keep an eye on them, and they'll be safe, and most of all, they'll get to meet my wonderful wife!" Hughes gushed.

"Well, I don't see why not. Your sure Gracia is alright with this?" Roy looked sternly at his friend.

"She was delighted, and is getting the rooms ready as we speak, they used to be guest rooms you know, so they're practically ready to move into. She's so excited at the idea of getting two sons, even if it is only temporary," Hughes smiled, "so, when should I take them, Roy?" he asked.

"Right now would be alright, but they don't have their belongings with them, thanks to Havoc wanting to get them here quickly,"

"No problem! My darling Gracia would love to take them shopping, and of course they'll need their hair cut too, and-"

"NO!" chorused the two boys.

"It's not proper for boys to have long hair you know," Roy told them.

"Now, now, Roy, if they don't want to cut their hair right now, that's fine. They seem to keep it well in order, so I don't see why we should rush them," Hughes chided, "well, guess I'm off then, Roy, see you tomorrow!" and he steered the two boys out of the office and they were soon in his car driving off.

"Wait," Roy muttered, "did what I think happen...just happen?"

"He took the rest of the day of, sir, and you gave him permission to do so," Hawkeye muttered as she left the room as well, followed by Havoc.

**Oh, and if anyone wants to read any of my other stuff, I have an acount on DA (DeviantArt) and I've got an original story goin' Fireena. Deviantart .com/ (just remove the spaces)**

**Next chapter will be posted soon, but in the meantime, please review.**

**Oh, and a question, with the little I have so far, how're you liking it? Do you like it enough that If, when this is done, you would read a 'sequel' if I posted it?**

**Just something for y'all to think on while you read this story. I'll stop now. **


	6. Temporary Home

**Here's the next chapter. I want to thank all of those who have commented, and to answer a couple questions i have gotten, (dont know if i have already answered so this might be old) Who'reUCallingAPipsqueakMidget (awesome name BTW) there will be at least one more FMA character in here that hasn't been introsuced in the previous chapters and isn't introduced in this chapter. he's a long way off from being introduced though.**

**xLovexCrushx17 in this story there isnt alchemy, but I am writing a sequel to this and I don't know if I'm going to incorperate alchemy or not. If i even post it.**

**Anyway, here's the next chapter, and I hope you like it**

**And If I owned FMA, then believe me, I wouldn't be posting FF.**

"Here we are, boys!" Hughes announced as they pulled up in front of a well kept house, "your new, temporary home," he stepped out of the vehicle and opened the door. Alphonse scrambled out quickly, breathing deeply in the fresh air, but Edward didn't come out right away. Hughes looked back in and saw the small boy with his knees drawn up to his chest, very pale and light green. He leaned his head against the seat before paling even further and pushing his way past Hughes and landing on the sidewalk where he was violently sick. His brother paled as he watched, but managed to keep his stomach under control.

"Have either of you been in a car before?" Hughes asked incredulously.

"Until today? Not for three years," Al told him shakily as he watched his brother gagging on the ground.

"I see...Well, you better, Edward?" he asked as the blond stood up, wiping his mouth.

"M'fine, be better if you just let Al and I go home, but I'm fine," the boy wiped his mouth with a gloved hand.

"That's good, now come along, my darling Gracia must be so excited to see you!" the man walked to the door and held it open for the boys who stepped in and were greeted by a woman with short, tan hair and green eyes. She wore a purple dress and a beige sweater overtop. Overall, she seemed like a really nice person...to Al anyway, Edward wasn't so trusting.

"Hello, I'm Alphonse. Thank you for letting us stay here, Ma'am," Al said politely, though he stayed behind his brother who was looking around suspiciously.

Gracia looked taken back at how polite the young boy was, "why, it's no trouble at all, Alphonse. I'm Gracia Hughes, and you've already met my husband, Maes. Now then, if your Alphonse, then this must be Edward," she smiled as she looked at the second boy who was glaring around.

"Uh, yes, he is," Alphonse answered, looking at his brother who was still rather pale from the car ride.

"Well don't just stand there, go inside, sit down," Maes laughed as he gently pushed them forward into the living room. Alphonse sat down right away, but Edward glanced around before sitting down, and he started rubbing his shoulder as it was hurting again.

"Are you alright, Edward?" Gracia asked him.

"I'm fine!" he snapped.

"Brother! She only asked a question," Al reprimanded his older brother.

Maes cleared his throat suddenly, "Gracia, dear, you remember what I told you about the boys having to leave their belongings behind? Well it seems that we will have to walk, they haven't ridden in a vehicle in a while, and they felt a bit sick after driving," he told his wife.

"All right, when should we go?" Gracia not only looked at her husband as she asked the question, but also at the boys.

"Whenever they want to is fine with me, it's them that need the clothes after all," Maes said nonchalantly.

"Don't care," Edward muttered, realizing he wasn't going to get out of the situation any time soon.

"Um, anytime that is convenient is alright," Al said.

"Well then, how about right now!" Maes asked excitedly.

"I thought you didn't care," Edward muttered, but stood up when his brother agreed.

Soon they were walking back to the house from getting them some clothes. While they had been choosing, Gracia had noticed that while Alphonse had selected short sleeved t-shirts, Edward had selected long sleeved shirts. Even for night wear, Al had chosen shorts and a t-shirt, Ed chose a long sleeved shirt and sweatpants. As they walked home she wondered if there was a reason he was hiding from them.

After they got home, the mysteries surrounding the boys deepened. Most boys their age would be excited at knowing they'd get their own room, but Al looked positively terrified, and Edward glared at them with pure loathing when they were shown the rooms, but neither said anything.

The older boy spent a lot of time in the room, arranging and rearranging the books on the shelves to his liking, as well as doing other things that just seemed to be wasting time, and Gracia and Maes both noticed that throughout the whole time he never removed his gloves, boots, or coat.

"Dinner!" Gracia called and the boys walked quietly to the table and upon seeing two plates already made up for them, sat down and waited for the Hughes's to sit down.

After they sat and began eating, the boys did as well, and Maes glanced up and noticed Ed's appearance, "Edward," he started, "do you mind removing your coat and gloves? It isn't very cold in here after all,"

Edward looked up at him and sighed before removing his coat and draping it over the back of his chair, but he kept his gloves on, as well as his black sweater.

"The gloves too, if you don't mind...It's only polite," Maes tried, but Al interrupted.

"Brother rarely takes of his gloves...Even at home...Sorry," Al bowed his head quickly and lowered his fork back onto his plate and started shaking.

"Al, calm down, it'll be alright, he's not here," Edward reached to his brother who was sitting next to him and glared at the two adults.

"I-I'm sorry," Al whispered as he took in a shaky breath.

"Relax, Al, it's all right," Ed reassured him.

The married couple just watched as they saw the slightly older boy comfort his brother, and a few minutes later Edward excused himself from the table, took his coat and left to the room they had said was his.

"Al, can you tell me why Ed won't remove his gloves?" Maes asked, but Al only shook his head frantically in return.

Edward on the other hand, was rubbing his sore right shoulder with his left hand. He finally gave up, but it came to his realization that though he had been able to avoid removing his gloves this time, next time wouldn't be so easy.

**Hope you enjoyed the chapter, and just to clear things up, not being in a car for a long period of time can make someone feel sick. winter of grade five I was completely against driving in any sort of vehicle and wouldn't go into town with my parents. Finally calmed down a month or two after all the snow and ice were gone and would ride in a vehicle again, but it made me feel sick since I wasnt used to the feeling of being in a car. So i figured, about three years would probably make someone feel pretty sick.**

**anyway, I'm rambling arent I? Next chapter will be posted soon (I hope)**


	7. The Truth

**Sorry guys for taking so long to update this. I really wanted to get one chapter out for Christmas, but then I'd have to post 2 or three chapters a day, and That's ust a pain in the neck to do, so some will be out late. Sorry.**

**Anyway, here's the next chapter. No, unlike the title may suggest it has nothing to do with the gate. No alchemy in this FF guys.**

**Thanks to all those who have reviewed! Now, Onto the chapter!**

Edward sat on the couch with a notebook and a pencil, trying to figure out a rather difficult math problem. The past 3 days that they had been there, he had taken to finding math books that were lying around from when Maes was a kid, as it was the same house he grew up in, and try the math problems inside. He rewrote the problems on paper to do later so he wouldn't get caught with the book, and never let anyone know this, though he knew Al knew about it.

"Hey, kiddo, what are you doing?" a now-familiar voice asked, putting on hand on the older Elric's shoulder and causing him to jump out of the way.

"Nothing," he hissed through clenched teeth as he closed up his notebook.

"Sorry, Edward, didn't mean to scare you. Say, why don't the two of us go for a walk? We can talk for a bit, and I can get to know you," Maes smiled, but the blond didn't return his enthusiasm.

He looked out the window and saw a light dusting of snow. He shivered, 'if it's cold enough for snow to stay, it's plenty cold enough to freeze my automail, and who knows how long this freak would want to stay out in the cold,' he thought bitterly.

"Come on, Ed, get your coat, Gracia asked me to get some food for dinner, and I'd sure like your company," Hughes coaxed.

"Then ask Al if you want company, it's too cold out," Edward sat in a chair away from the man who was now on the couch, and continued his written out math problems.

"He's helping Gracia, come on, Ed, please?"

"...And you promise it's not very cold, and it won't take long?" Edward finally said with a sigh.

"Yup! We'll be there and back before you know it!"

"And you'll leave me alone if I go?"

"Can't promise that one, but I suppose it would depend on your definition,"

The blond sighed as he closed his notebook again, "Come on, I don't see it getting any warmer out," he muttered, walking to the room he stayed in to get his coat, placing the notebook on the bed.

"Alright! Let's go!" Maes declared excitedly.

As they walked, Ed realized that it wasn't too cold and they made it there without his automail getting too cold. Unfortunately, it seemed that in the time it took for Maes to find a vegetable and meat for supper and get through the check-out line, it got colder and the wind picked up, so when they left with their groceries, the cold cut through Edward like a knife and he started shivering right away, and no matter what he did he couldn't get warm.

"You alright, Edward?" Maes asked as the boys shivering got worse.

Edward could only nod, his teeth were chattering so bad that had he tried to say anything he probably would have only bit off his own tongue, so nodding was safest.

"It's not that cold is it?" asked Maes, unaware of the metal that was leeching heat from the smaller boy.

'You aren't the one with automail,' the boy thought bitterly.

Maes kept an eye on the shivering boy as the walked the rest of the way home, and as they walked inside, Al looked at his brother, and actually glared at Maes. He was shocked, he'd been thinking it was impossible for the boy to glare at anyone, and yet, he was sure it was a glare he'd received from the bronze haired boy.

"Brother? Are you gonna be alright?" he asked.

Edward swallowed, he knew he'd have to talk to assure his brother, "Y-y-yeah, Al, I-I-I'll be f-f-fine,"

"Brother why'd you go out there? You know what happens when you get it too cold!" Al cried out.

"D-d-don't blame me f-for this, Al," Edward yelled.

"He's right, Alphonse, I kinda pestered him into joining me," Maes said guiltily, much to Edwards surprise. He'd been expecting the man to have said it wasn't his fault, that Ed had wanted to come, the last thing he expected was for the man to actually admit he'd pestered him into coming.

"Oh...Sorry, Brother...," Al looked down guiltily.

"S'alright, Al...I should have known better," Edward brought his knees to his chest to try and warm his leg, as well as his arm, knowing that if he didn't warm those up, he'd never be able to get warm. He shivered violently though, and it didn't seem to be helping.

"Uh, Brother, maybe you should-"

"NO!" Edward cut off his brother, "They don't need to know, so forget it!" the boy got up and walked to his room.

"What was that about?" asked Gracia.

Alphonse shook his head, trying not to cry, "I can't say...It's not my concern," he said the words as though reciting from a textbook.

"Is that what your brother told you?" Gracia sat down next to Al, who nodded slightly, "can't you tell us why he's so cold? It would help us a lot, so we could help him,"

"B-but he'll be alright, won't he? He doesn't want me to tell anyone," tears fell from the small boys eyes.

"I don't know, Alphonse. Does this happen a lot?"

"Only when his arm and leg get really cold, then-" Alphonse looked up frantically as he realized what he had just said.

"Why does it happen, Al?" Maes asked, but the boy shook his head.

"I-I-I can't tell you...I said too much already," Al started breathing weakly. Unable to get sufficient air into his lungs, he began to panic.

"Al, where's your inhaler?" Gracia asked calmly.

"W-with Ed," the fact that he used his brothers nickname alerted the couple and Maes rushed to the boy's room to get Al's inhaler.

Maes knocked on the door, "Ed, come on, open this door! Your brother needs help!"

Almost immediately the door was flung open, and Edward was standing there, dressed in his preferred black outfit, sweater open revealing a black tank top, and his right hand had his glove while his left clutched the inhaler tightly.

"What did you do?" he snarled, but he didn't wait for a reply, just ran into the living room and helped his brother who smiled gratefully afterwards for the help.

Edward leaned against the couch and shut his eyes in relief. He stayed in that position until he felt several eyes watching him. He glared at them in frustration, "Al, what the hell is going on?" he demanded. The only response he got was his brother pointing, first at his wrist, and then his shoulder.

Edward looked at his wrist and saw that his sweater had ridden up to his forearm revealing the glinting silver of his automail, and the collar of his sweater had slipped down, which showed the scars and the attachment of his automail. He looked back up at the people staring at him before getting up and running back to his room and locking the door.

Edward leaned up against the door while his brother knocked on it, trying desperately to get his brother to let him in. The door was locked, though, and no one could get in unless Edward opened the door first.

"Please, Brother, I'm sorry, I didn't think...I couldn't..."

"It's not like you can control it, Al," Edward muttered bitterly.

"Brother, why won't you come out? You can trust them, they're nice,"

"I don't care how nice you think they are, they don't care about us, Al! They're just gonna dump us off at some orphanage, so quit getting so attached to them!" Edward shouted at his brother through the door.

"Brother, why are you being so rude? They let us stay here, and you can't be nice for five minutes! You can't trust them enough so they can help you, why can't you stop being so stubborn?"

"Shut it, Al! No one asked you!" Ed snarled.

There was the hurried sound of footsteps leaving the door as Al ran off. Edward threw open the door just in time to see his brother turn back.

"Al, wait...I'm sorry," the blond reached out a shaking hand towards his brother.

Al wiped his eyes on his sleeve, "I hate you, Brother!" he shouted, "I hate you!" and with that, the younger Elric turned the corner into the living room.

Edward slowly sunk to his knees at what his brother said, his words echoing in his ears. He shook even worse than before, but this time it had nothing to do with the cold.

"Edward? Are you alright?" a female voice asked.

Edward looked around sadly, "M'fine," he muttered, looking back down at the ground.

Gracia sat down next to him, "you don't look fine...And your arm didn't really look like it was fine,"

"It's...It's fine," Edward spoke softly.

"Edward, it's alright. Your brother still loves you," she whispered.

The boy shook his blond head, "he said he hates me, I messed up everything, and now he hates me,"

"He doesn't hate you, he's just worried, that's all,"

Edward shook his head again, more furiously than before, "Al never says anything he doesn't mean. He's not like other kids who throw around the word 'hate' lightly. If he says he hates something, he means it...A-and now..." the boy got to his feet and turned to go into his room, and he shut the door quietly behind him.

Gracia stood up and brushed off her skirt, 'better not push him,' she thought as she got ready to prepare dinner, 'poor thing, he's bound to break down sooner or later,'

When dinner was finally ready, she called the boys to the table. They both sat on opposite sides of the table, and it seemed that Alphonse was still rather angry at his older brother, and Edward as a result became more silent than before, and made sure to avoid anyones eyes.

After dinner Ed left to go back to his room and Al stayed to help Gracia with the dishes.

"Ms. Gracia?" Al asked tentatively.

"Yes, Alphonse?" she had given up trying to get Al to just call her Gracia, and the fact that he called her 'Ms. Gracia' was an amazing accomplishment.

"Why do you think Brother dislikes people so much?"

"I don't know Al, that might be something you'll need to ask him yourself," Gracia replied honestly, noting the fact that the boy didn't say hate, as many other people would have. She began to see where Ed would think he was hated by his brother, if he never used the word.

"I have, but he always yells at me if I do...I don't like it when he's mad...Lately though...He's been getting more and more angry with me," Al looked down at the cup he was drying.

"How so?"

"Well, I asked him how dad was going to find us if we are so far from home, and he told me to forget about him, 'cause he was nothing but a-" Alphonse stopped abruptly before uttering out the curses Edward had used to label their father, but having heard many of the older boys choice words at times, Gracia could guess that it wasn't very kind.

"He might just miss him like you do, but has a different way of showing it, that's all," Gracia suggested.

"Maybe," Al yawned.

"Do you want to go to bed, Alphonse?" Gracia asked him, and the boy nodded tiredly.

"Then off you go, I can finish these," and the boy folded the towel and thanked her before walking to his own room.

**So there it is, chapter 7. Hope you liked it and please review!**


	8. Running Away

**Ah man, I am so sorry guys. I know, its been, what, 6 months or so since i last updated? Geez, at this rate i wont have to worry about that one chapter with the christmas in it, It'll actually _be_ christmas before it goes up, haha.**

**Anyway, I actually planned to have this up quite some time ago, around the 30th of December, but a bunch of crap happened, and...Well, lets just say, I dont care for that day any more than i already did. Then i lost my flashdrive where this story is, and really, I might have completely forgotten about it altogether if one of my friends (who has the complete story in his possesion) hadn't kept asking if i was going to do a sequel, which I am. I actually had a few chapters of the sequel done on my ipod, but i tripped on Friday and it fell, screwing up the touch screen, so now, the notes i had on it are gone, except the ones that were sent via email, which the sequel was not. Ah well, my dad is letting me use his until it can be replaced or fixed, so i guess alls well that ends well.**

**Anyway, I'm working on a sequel for this, which means id better get my butt in gear updating this. I hope you find this chapter satisfactory, and again, I am really sorry for not updating in freaking forever. And don't worry, I'm not abandoning this, I like it too much, and its gotten some very kind reviews from you all.**

**Thanks to all of you who have read, reviewed, favorited, or collected, or whatever, this fanfic, It is appreciated, and really makes me feel good that people actually want to read my writings.**

**Anyway, enough stalling, onto chapter eight!**

Chapter eight

That night, the Hughes's were awakened by a horrible cry. They ran into the hallway to see Edward, his hand hovering over the doorknob, shaking fearfully.

"It's alright, Edward, we'll check, we don't want you to get hurt if someone is in there," Maes told him.

"No ones in there...Just Al..." the boy whispered.

"A nightmare?" Gracia asked, and the boy nodded his head slowly in response, "why don't you go in then?"

"Because...He hates me...I'm probably the last one he wants help from," the boy turned his head to face them, his face filled with fear and sadness, "I-I don't know...What to do..." he whispered.

Gracia opened the door for him, "why don't you try doing whatever you've done to help him before?" she suggested.

Edward nodded and walked slowly to his brother and gently shook him awake. His little brother opened his eyes wide and when he saw his brother standing next to him, he sat straight up before throwing the covers back, and then standing as he threw his arms around the older ones neck and cried into his shoulder.

"I'm sorry, Brother!" he cried, "I shouldn't have said those things, I'm sorry!" the younger boy cried.

"No, Al, I was the one being an idiot, I-I'm sorry," Edward whispered.

Al cried for another moment or so before straightening up and wiping his eyes.

"Better, Al?" Edward asked.

"What about you, Brother? Are you still cold?"

"I'll be fine. If you want, the next time I can get it checked we can ask why it's suddenly getting so bad. It wasn't so bad for freezing before," Ed ruffled his brothers long hair.

"When will that be, Brother?"

"Whenever I can get around to getting a tune-up, Al," Edward hissed, aware that the Hughes's were still standing by the door.

"Sorry," Al muttered.

"You better go back to sleep," Edward turned to leave, certain his brother was still mad at him.

"Wait, Brother..." Alphonse grabbed his brothers shirt and tugged on it.

"What, Al?"

"W-will you stay? Just tonight?" the boy asked.

Edward turned, looking surprised but nodded. He went into his room and returned seconds later with his pillow and placed it on the opposite end of the bed as his brother's before crawling in and closing his eyes. Within seconds, both boys were peacefully asleep.

"Guess we'll be moving some furniture tomorrow," Gracia murmured sleepily.

"To let the two of them share a room you mean?" Maes confirmed.

"Yeah," his wife nodded, "but for now, let's just go back to bed,"

"Agreed," and for the rest of the night, everyone slept undisturbed.

The next morning when Edward woke up, Al had already gone, not that Ed was bothered by it; he would have gone to get breakfast, or help Gracia with the cleaning. What happened was the last thing Edward thought would happen.

Edward walked into the kitchen yawning and saw his brother talking to the Hughes's. As he got closer he overheard what his brother was saying.

"-A-and that's why...I think he should...he should get it checked..." the dark blond boy had his head ducked down and his face was bright red.

"Al," the older one whispered in shock, "Al, no...Tell me you didn't,"

Maes looked up and saw the older Elric standing there, shock written on his face, "Ed! Why didn't you tell us that your arm and leg needed a tune-up?"

Edward shook his head in disbelief, "Al...you-you told, didn't you?"

"I had to, Brother! You said yourself last night it needed looked at, all I did was ask them if they'd take us there!" Alphonse's voice was edged with a high pitched squeal.

"That's not the point!"

"Then what is?"

"The point is that you should know better than to start telling people we hardly know whatever they want to know! Just because I promised I'd get it looked at, doesn't give you free reign to go to them and spill the whole story!" Edward shouted.

"They'd find out sooner or later, Brother! You can't hide something like that for very long, especially in winter, and besides, they have our files, and yours has your medical records, explaining it!" Al yelled back.

"The fact that they didn't know beforehand should be proof enough that they don't care what happened to us! I'll bet they didn't even look at the file after your panic attack to find out what causes them, and how your supposed to deal with it!" Edward glared at Maes, daring him to say otherwise.

"Its true we didn't look at the files as much as we should have, but it's not because we don't care what happens to you," Gracia began, stepping towards him.

"Don't act like your our mother! You don't know anything about us, and you didn't even bother to check! Al could have died yesterday, because of your damn negligence! So don't try and say you care about me, if you don't even care about him!" Ed ran to the front door, and after slipping his feet into his boots and grabbing his coat quickly, he wrenched open the door and fled.

"Brother!" Al cried, trying to follow, but he was held back by Gracia, "let go! He could die out there! He isn't thinking, he's gonna do something reckless, I know it! Brother!" Al struggled even more to break Gracia's hold.

"He's a smart boy, Al, he won't do anything reckless. He cares about you too much to leave you," Gracia whispered to him.

"He's already done something reckless by running off! I told you, he doesn't think when he's upset! He's gotten hurt before, please, I gotta find him!"

"Gracia, do you have things under control here?" Maes asked, putting on his coat.

"Just find him quickly," Gracia told him.

"And bring him back!" Al added.

"I will," and with that, Maes Hughes walked out the door in search of Edward Elric.

**So, thats chapter eight for you. I hope you liked it, and i hope it was satisfactory. I doubt it was worth the long wait, but if it was then wonderful! Hope y'all ain't too mad at me for not reviewing for such a long time, and i hope that y'all'll review. :D**


	9. Struck Down

**Hey, It's me again, with another chapter of...To Regain His Trust! Sorry, forgot the name of my own story there a second, heheh.**

**It's a short chapter, but pretty intense, or at least I like to think so. Easter break is coming up, so I should be able to post another chapter or two during that time.**

Edward ran down the street blindly. He didn't know where he was or where he was going, but he didn't care, anywhere was better than going back there. He turned the corner and narrowly missed running into a street lamp before hearing someone call his name.

"Edward! Where are you?" the voice of Maes Hughes was drawing near, despite the fact that he was running so fast. He slowed to a stop and turned around, only to see Hughes walk around the corner.

"Ed!" the man shouted in relief, running towards him.

"Go away! Just leave me alone!" the small boy shouted.

"Edward, just listen. We only want to help you and your brother,"

"We were fine before; all you want to do is throw us in an orphanage with a bunch of little kids, isn't that right?"

"You already had it explained to you. Now, if you could tell us the name of another relative you had, you could live with them, but your mother is dead, and we are searching for the one who killed her, as well as kidnapped your father, so you are technically orphans,"

"Liar! He was never kidnapped! He ran, not caring about us!" Edward turned on his heel and dashed out to the middle of the street, but a loud honk caught his attention and he paused to see what made the noise. The last thing he remembered was Maes Hughes leaning over him, telling him he'd be alright.

"Why aren't they back yet?" Al asked, looking out the window.

"It's alright, Alphonse, they'll be home soon," Gracia assured the boy.

"What if Brother did something reckless again? He could be hurt, or lost, or-"

"He's not, Al, so settle down," Gracia told him.

About ten minutes later the phone rang, and Gracia answered it. She listened for a few minutes before uttering a gasp, and then she started asking questions.

"Will he be alright? Will he be able to see him if he comes? How did it happen?" she paused while these questions were supposedly answered and then she nodded, "I'll bring him now, keep asking about him, I'm glad your safe, I love you," and with that, she hung up the phone.

"Al, Ed left you your inhaler, correct?" she asked.

"Yeah, got it in my pocket...Why?" Al cocked his head to the side curiously.

"You may need it. Get your coat, we need to go to the hospital," Gracia put on her own coat and grabbed her purse.

"But, why?" Alphonse asked worriedly.

"There's been an accident. Your brothers been hit by a car," Gracia told him sadly.

**Yeah, so there's chapter 9. Sorry for the double cliffhanger thing thats going on here in this chapter. I left it at a cliffhanger before and now both points of view in this are cliffhanger-ish. That's like, the equivelent of 3 cliffhangers in 2 chapters. Not to mention I may or may not have killed off Ed, only two people know for sure if I did or not.**

**So, how was it? Rushed? Drawn out? Too short? Too long? (I highly doubt the problem is numbers 2 and 4, haha) Anyway, another character from FMA is drawing near. Can anyone guess? It can be from either anime, these guesses. Just kind of want to hear your thoughts on the matter, find out wo you'd like to see appear in this FF, or in any possible sequels.**

**I still don't know wbout the sequel though. I finished this one, it's just a matter of posting chapters, and I like how it ends, so I don't know if I want to add anything onto it. Let me know what you think about a sequel as the FF goes on please. **

**I may write a sequelbut not post it too. Kinda depends on what y'all would like to see in a FF**

**Oh, and thanks for the sweet reviews on my last chapter. A special Thanks goes out to St. Iggy The Pyro, who thinks my story is worthy of 6 awesomes. Thank you St. Iggy! And thanks to everyone else who has ever reviewed my story. If it weren't for you, I wouldn't have come this far with it. :D**


	10. Critical Condition

Chapter 10

**Well, here's another chapter for y'all. I gotta admit, I don't like cliffhangers, including my own, any more then you guys. I read this story myself, just because it's been so long since I've gone through it, and there's been a few times where I've gotten to the latest chapter and been wanting to know what happenes next. And I wrote it! haha.**

**Anyway, hopefully I'll be posting chapters sooner, and for Joker Oak, my update schedual will hopefully get better. I hope to post at least once a week, but of course it will depend on what I'm doing. Hopefully there won't be another multi-month wait between updates.**

**St. Iggy the Pyro, I'm sorry for nearly giving you a heart attack, and thank you again for the review. As for Ed's fate, well, you'll just have to keep reading, haha, sorry.**

**Pure Innocence Flowing Time, sorry if you were disappointed their dad didn't show up, but I'm glad to hear that that was something that people could see from a mile away. :D**

**awesomenaruto thanks, and I'm glad you like suspense, because there's a fair amount in this fic.**

**FullmetalFan16, yeah, it's getting pretty intense, hope you enjoy this chapter :D**

**Anyway, onward, to chapter ten!**

"We're here for Edward Elric. He's 11 years old, and was hit by a car," Gracia told the receptionist at the front desk.

"Edward...Edward...Ah! Yes, here he is, Edward Elric, age 11, admitted 20 minutes ago for serious injuries. He is currently in critical condition...Are you his mother?" the receptionist asked.

"No, temporary guardian...Can you tell me any more about his condition?"

"Well, to be honest, the doctors aren't sure he's going to make it, he's pretty badly injured and-"

The receptionist stopped abruptly once Alphonse started crying.

"Uh, what's with the kid?" she asked nervously.

"He is Edwards younger brother...Please, can you tell us what room he is in?"

"Room 306, though you might not be able to go in and see him," the receptionist told them, pointing in the direction they would need to go.

Alphonse took off down the hall in the direction pointed out to him. When he reached the door marked 306 he nearly ran into Maes Hughes who was pacing back and forth outside of the room.

"Where is he? What did they do with him!" The boy demanded.

"He's in there right now, Al. The doctor is with him now. He'll be out soon to talk to us about your brother,"

As if on cue, the doctor stepped out into the hallway, sighing sadly.

"So? Will he be alright?" Gracia came up behind Maes and Al.

"To be honest? I really don't know...At this point he could go either way, and neither result would be all too surprising..." the doctor motioned for them to follow him into his office.

"Al," Maes said suddenly, "why don't you, Uh..."

"There's a children's playroom he could wait at. I'll page one of the nurses so she can watch over him," as the doctor spoke he pulled out a pager, and soon a kind-looking nurse came to show Al where to play, while the couple went with the doctor.

**Yeah, so there's chapter ten. Poor Al, he's so sad and scared right now. Hopefully he'll meet someone who'll make him feel better while he's in the playroom. I hope Ed'll be alright too. **

**Anyway, another chapter soon (I hope I hope) and there's another character from FMA in it too, one that we haven't seen at all yet. Any guesses? Anyone? And I'm still waiting to hear opinions on sequels. I know it's still a ways from being finished, but I'd just like to know.**

**Thanks to all those reviewing, hope you'll continue to do so. They make me smile :D**


	11. Against All Odds

**Yeah, it's me again. Sorry for taking so long with this update, but I've been working for the past few days, covering shofts for people. I don't care, it's the holiday, so I can work extra shifts, and as long as I get paid for them, I'm okay with that :D**

**Anyway, longer chapter then the past two, and yes, I'm aware they were very short, but I wrote this whole thing out on my ipod touch, and it looks like a lot more on a tiny screen, and I really didn't feel like going through it to change the chapter lengths, so sorry if you didn't like it, but hopefully y'all will like this better.**

**St. Iggy: well, maybe at one point :D And thanks, so far on , youre the only one who has said you'd like a sequel.**

**Eternal Love's Eclipse: Thanks for the critique, and I'll try and make the chapters longer so the story will flow better :)**

**Pure Innocence Flowing Time: D: Well, the chapter title is Against All Odds, so we'll see how Ed does.**

**Fanged Alchemist: Thank you very much :D**

**Anyway's enjoy the chapter everybody (or don't, I don't really care...Okay, I do, I hope you'll all like it, but if not *shrugs*)**

**Chapter 11**

"Hey! I'm Ling. Who are you?" a dark haired boy with hair about as long as Edwards but pulled into a ponytail came up to Alphonse, who was sitting in a corner with his knees drawn up to his chest and his arms resting on them.

Al looked up miserably, "Alphonse," he whispered.

"So, Alphonse, why're you in here? I swallowed a quarter last night and they had to do surgery to get it out!" the dark haired boy declared proudly, "I also got appendicitis, so I'm stuck here a few days,"

"Why'd you swallow it?" Alphonse asked.

The boy shrugged, "dare," he said it like it was the most normal thing in the world, "so why are you in here?"

"I'm not in here for me; my brother is in here," Alphonse answered, looking like he was going to cry again.

"Oh...Why's he here?"

"He...got upset...ran off, and was hit by a car...He might not make it..." Alphonse bit his lower lip to keep from crying. He pulled his inhaler from his jacket pocket and fumbled with it as his breathing got more erratic. He started panicking more before Ling reached over and helped him.

Afterwards, Alphonse pocketed the inhaler with an embarrassed thanks.

"Hey, no prob. My little sister's got asthma...By the way, if you don't mind me asking. This brother of yours, is he older or younger than you?"

"O-older..." Alphonse rested his head on his arms, tears leaking slowly onto the sleeve of his shirt.

"How bad is he?" Ling asked, sitting down next to Al.

"T-the doctor said, he could go either way...And neither would be a surprise..." Al muttered, wiping away the tears.

"What kind of person is he?"

"What?" Alphonse turned to look at Ling.

"What kind of person is he? Stubborn, or easygoing?" Ling had a determined look on his face.

"He's...He's pretty stubborn..." Al muttered, not seeing where this was going.

"And he loves you, right?"

"Huh?" the younger boy didn't see where the conversation was going.

"Just answer the question," Ling told him exasperatedly.

"Well, he gets really mad at me, and-"

"Doesn't matter. At the end of the day, he loves you, and he's still your big brother, right?"

"Well, yeah..." Al looked at the boy curiously.

"Well then, if the odds aren't really in favor of either scenario, then it's up to him. If that's the case and he's really so stubborn, and he really loves you, then he won't leave you easily, and he'll be fine. I'm sure of it,"

"Really? You think so?" hope returned in Alphonse's eyes.

Ling shrugged, "that's my belief anyway, I gotta go now though, hope your brother gets better," as he spoke, Ling got to his feet and walked off with a nurse who was waiting to take him back to his room.

Al waited for a few hours until the Hughes's finally showed up. When they did they apologized for taking so long, and after a few minutes of asking on Alphonse's part, they reluctantly told him; Edward had taken a turn for the worst. The odds were against the young boy, and it looked as though he would die.

Once they got back to the Hughes's house, Al looked at Maes and Gracia, "I want to know...What's wrong with Brother..." he muttered.

Maes sighed before kneeling down to the boys height, "Al, it's fine. The doctors are going to do all that they can to-"

"I want to know," Al repeated, sounding more confident than he felt.

"He has several broken bones, including two ribs. A concussion, and is bleeding inside. The doctors are going to do what they can to fix him, but unfortunately, he had been lying on an icy road for ten minutes, and has hypothermia. That's what caused him to get worse; his arm and leg-"

"Automail," Alphonse interrupted.

"What?" asked Maes.

"His arm and leg are called automail. It's better than regular prosthetics, 'cause Brother can move it like his real arm and leg,"

"Anyway, his 'automail' as you called it, is stopping him from getting warm," Gracia told him gently, "they need to remove it, but no one knows who attached it to him; it's not in any of the records, so they can't do it properly, which makes for many difficulties,"

"Alphonse, can you remember who put them on your brother?" Maes asked, "it would really help,"

The small boy thought hard as to who had put the metal arm and leg on his brother, "Uh...The name was...Rockbell! That's it, Rockbell, I'm sure of it! Pinako Rockbell gave Brother his automail!" Al looked rather proud if himself for remembering that detail.

"Rockbell, eh? Not a very common name, so I'm sure we will be able to find them, I'm going to go to the office now, so I'll be back later," Maes kissed his wife on the cheek before walking out the door.

The grin that had been on Alphonse's face quickly disappeared as he remembered why they needed to find the Rockbells, and he went into his room and cried. He had lost his mom to a murderer, his dad was gone, and now he might lose his brother. He cried, wanting his family to be like it was.

Alphonse cried most of the time while the Hughes's tried to find the Rockbells, and every time the phone rang to update Edwards condition. Then there were times where he couldn't cry anymore, as if all the tears had been shed, and Gracia would take advantage of those times to get him to eat. It saddened her to see the boy like he was; for too often was the boy crying himself to sleep, and he was getting little sleep due to nightmares.

"Alphonse?" Gracia called softly as she opened the door to the boys room, "Al, can I speak to you?"

A tear filled sniffle was heard and Alphonse came to the door, a scared look in his grey eyes, "yes?"

"The doctor called, Al," Gracia gave a small, but sad smile, "Ed's awake, and we can see him if we want, but we have to be quiet. Do you want to go?"

"When?" the young boy looked more lively and hope shone in his eyes once more.

"At two, so in about an hour," Gracia told him.

"Yes, I really do!" the boy looked down, blushing slightly, "Uh, Ms. Gracia? Is it alright...if I draw Brother a picture?"

"Of course, Al," Gracia ruffled the young boys hair, "you'll also need to brush this out," she laughed.

"Yes'm," Al quickly turned and switched on the lights before running to his desk and pulling out some colored pencils and some paper.

He finished up the picture and put it in a plastic cover so it wouldn't get ruined in the snow and rain that was coming down, and he got changed into his favorite outfit before picking up a brush and trying to run it through his messy hair that hadn't been brushed in about a week.

"Ms. Gracia?" a voice came from the entrance to the kitchen.

"Yes?" Gracia asked, looking at the boy. He was dressed in the clothes he had been wearing when they had come to them, she couldn't believe it had been less than two weeks, with all that happened, she could have sworn it had been more.

"Uh, c-could you help me?" Alphonse held up the brush.

"Of course, Al," Gracia motioned for the boy to come closer and she took the brush and started brushing out his messy hair, with little success, "Al, there's still time left, why don't you have a shower and we can see if it'll make your hair easier to comb out?"

"A-alright," the boy went to the bathroom and washed his hair. When he came out he had put his jeans and shirt on, leaving his shoes and socks in his room, and rather than his leather jacket, he had a towel over his shoulders.

Gracia walked over to him and started working on the knots, which were easier and less painful to get through, and by quarter to two, they were ready to go.

Gracia picked up the keys to the car which Al had become accustomed to riding in and they drove to the hospital, and walked in through the visitors entrance.

"We are here to see Edward Elric; the doctor said he regained consciousness," Gracia told the receptionist.

"He certainly did!" the receptionist glared in disgust, "little brat. You know, I had to come in early to do this, because the usual girl went to go give him a needle and he stabbed it into her arm!"

"Are they alright?" Alphonse asked, referring both to his brother, and the girl who had gotten stabbed with a needle.

"It was some drug that was supposed to make him sleep easier, so she went home. As for the kid, he's still awake, demanding they 'give back what's his' or something. I dunno, I didn't want to risk getting violently stabbed with a needle,"

"What room is he in?" Gracia asked, having enough of hearing how horrible Edward supposedly was.

"He changed rooms when he woke up, it's 412 now," the nurse pointed down the hall.

"Thank you," Gracia took Al's hand and they walked into the room at precisely two

Alphonse ran to the bed where his brother lay, eyes squeezed shut in pain, chest covered in bandages. H is hair was pulled back into a ponytail, and he turned his head wearily when he heard the door open and saw his brother standing there, worry evident in his eyes. Edward lay there looking dimly at his brother before smiling slightly.

"Hey, Al," his voice sounded rough, like he hadn't drank anything in a while, which Alphonse supposed was probably true.

Al stayed where he was, biting his lip for quite some time before he could no longer stand it. He then stepped forward and hugged his brother tightly. It was rather awkward for the small boy, and very painful for the older one. Edward couldn't help it; he shouted out in pain.

"Alphonse, stop," Gracia told him gently.

Alphonse let go and looked at his brother who had managed to sit back up. He was panting heavily and was gripping the sheets tightly in attempt to hold back the scream. Sweat covered his forehead and he was shaking pretty badly. As Al looked at his older brother, he realized he no longer had his automail.

"B-Brother?" Alphonse asked in a tear-filled voice.

"Y-yeah, Al?" Edward asked panting heavily.

Alphonse just looked at where the automail had once resided, and then at the bandages all over his brother, finally he spoke, "Brother...Your gonna be okay, right?" he asked in a small voice.

"Yeah, Al. Course I am. What made you think I wouldn't?" the boy scoffed.

"Well, they told me you were hit by a car, and that they couldn't get you warm," Al whispered.

"Well, I'm fine. Hey, maybe you could wait around for a while before Pinako comes. She's coming to give me new automail," Edward said forcing a grin.

"O-okey..." the younger boy muttered unsurely.

Edward sighed, "spit it out already, Al,"

"I-I just...I don't want to lose you," Al whispered, tears welling up in his eyes, "it's my fault your here...Every time you end up in the hospital, it's because of me...I-I-I'm scared that...One time, you'll...you'll d-d-d-..." the young boy couldn't finish his sentence as he was too choked up, tears streaming down his face as he tried desperately to brush them away.

Edward looked at his younger brother, eyes widened in fear and surprise, "look Al," he started, "it was my own choice to run out, I shouldn't have reacted that way, you were just trying to help is all,"

"What about that night? That man was going to do the same thing to me as mom, but you got in the way, and you were shot protecting me! He killed mom and took dad, and you got shot saving me,"

"Al, about that night..." Edward looked down at the sheets, his long hair falling over his face.

"Yeah?"

There was a long silence before Ed looked back at his brother, "n-nevermind, it doesn't matter anyway."

"Is this a bad time?" a female voice asked. Everyone turned around and saw an old woman standing at the door, and she carried with her a toolbox and a suitcase.

"Granny!" Al exclaimed, looking at the woman. She was shorter than Edward was and had grey hair and glasses.

"Hey, Al," the woman smiled, "how're you doing?"

"A-alright," the younger boy glanced back at his brother who had started removing some if the bandages, despite what Gracia and Maes were telling him.

"Well, Ed," the older woman spoke up as she walked over to him, "you ready to get your arm and leg?"

"Yeah," the boy eased himself off the bed and carefully hopped over to a soft chair nearby, using the I.V. stand to help him, "just get it over with,"

"Alright. You know the drill right? Just stay still and let me know if it hurts too bad," Pinako told him.

"Yeah, I know," Edward settled in the chair before turning to his brother, "Al, you can leave you know...I'm not going anywhere or anything,"

Al shook his head and settled onto the edge of his brothers bed, "I'm staying right here, Brother," he said determined.

Edward sighed and then relaxed, but only momentarily.

**So, Ed's okay, he beat the odds (did we really expect anything less from him though) and there was 2 new characters here, funnilly enough I forgot about Pinako being in the chapter. Originally Ling was going to be a random-ass OC named Joey (so if you see Joey anywhere, It's supposed to be Ling) but as the story went on I just couldn't resist. Gotta love Ling. Sorry if he seems OOC to y'all, but you know, that's the thing about AU stories. Not everyone has to be completely IC. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it, and as usual, I'd love to hear your thoughts. Too long, too short, liked it, hated it, where I could improve, anything like that.**


	12. Blood

**Alrighty then, new chapter! I just want to thank all of you who have been commenting for the past while and who have been patient with my erratic updates. I really appreciate it guys. :D**

**Fanged Alchemist: Aww, thank you, and a sequel is in progress, though it is slow going, but I'll see about posting it, since it seems more then one person wants a sequel, there's at least 3, including my RL friend who kind of inspired it.**

**St Iggy: Yup, and now I've updated again :D Thank you, and as I said, it's slow going, but a sequel is in the works. As for killing off Ed, well he's the main guy, and you can't kill off the main guy so easily. Besides, he's my favorite character in FMA, why would I kill him off now?**

**Pure Innocence Flowing Time: Yup, Ed lives! Enjoy the update!**

Chapter 12

"Alright, Ed, on three," Pinako told him, "one,"

"Two," said the nurse who'd been called in to help.

"What are they doing?" Maes whispered to Al as he ducked slightly.

"They're gonna connect the nerves...It causes Brother a lot of pain, and-"

"Three!" the two chorused and they simultaneously turned the wrenches. There was a faint crackling sound, partially muffled by the young boys moans of pain. Alphonse covered his ears with his hands and he squeezed his eyes shut tightly.

Moments later, Edward was leaning back in the chair, head tilted back, breathing heavily, but a slight smile on his face as his younger brother gave him the picture.

Edward sat forward to see the picture better. At first he was smiling, because it showed them in front of their house with their mother, but then he frowned angrily when he saw a tall man with long blond hair with the title of 'Dad' over his head.

Luckily, the doctor walked in before Ed could say anything, and he looked the boy over before turning to mr. and mrs. Hughes.

"Your the ones watching them correct?" he asked, pointing at the boys. When they nodded he handed them a piece of paper with some prescriptions on it.

"He can go home today, but he needs to be on extreme bed-rest for three days, more if he's in any pain. The first prescription is for headaches. If he gets one, he needs to lay down immediately and give him one pill. No more than two a day. The second is to fight off any infections, he should take one in the morning and another before bed,"

"Another thing, if he throws up blood or anything, you should bring him back; it could be a sign that we missed something," the doctor shook Maes's hand, "I'd like to see him in about 3 days or so. He's pretty much healed up, but I'd just to see how he's holding up,"

"Alright then," Maes replied, "hopefully there will be no need to see you before then,"

Soon they were back at the Hughes's house. Gracia and Maes were fixing up the room they were going to share, save anymore late night frights, and Edward was on the couch, while Alphonse sat beside him, every once in a while wiping away tears that didn't want to stay away.

Not long after, the bedroom was ready and after supper, Ed and Al were settled into bed.

Late that night, however, Gracia awoke to a terrible retching noise. She went to the boys' room and saw Edward leaning over the side, a small but strategically placed trash can was the object that had the poor luck of receiving the contents of the poor boys stomach.

She walked over to the boy who was still in bed, but leaning over the trash can, automail hand gripping the side table tightly keeping him from falling, flesh arm wrapped around where his ribs were broken. He finally stopped for a moment and was breathing heavily, sweat was pouring down his face, eyes watering and he didn't seem to notice Gracia until she sat on the bed.

The small boy turned his head slightly and looked at her apologetically before gagging and dry heaving, seeing as his stomach didn't have anything else in it.

Finally, Ed's stomach settled down and he pushed himself up using his automail arm. He was sitting up, arms wrapped around his middle with a pained expression on his face when Gracia returned from getting rid of the bag that had been in the trash can.

"Are you alright, Edward?" she asked, brushing his bangs back from his face.

The boy looked up at her momentarily before lowering his head and nodding. He felt like shit, but this woman didn't need to know. He didn't trust her, and refused to allow himself to ever trust another adult. The last time that happened, they were betrayed and his mother was killed.

Gracia sighed, "Ed, it's okay to trust adults, and we really need to know if your in pain, so we can fix it," she brushed the boys hair back behind his ear as she spoke.

The small boy shook his head, no one understood, he had gone through that kind of pain once, and didn't want it to happen again.

Al awoke and looked over sleepily at his brother who was still breathing heavily and had a look of pain on his face. He rubbed his eyes tiredly, "Brother? Are you alright?"

"Y-yeah, Al," Edward struggled to keep his voice as steady as possible.

"What's wrong?" Al sounded much more awake now and went to get up.

"Nothing, Al, just a little nauseous is all," Ed muttered.

"Are you gonna be alright?" the worry was more evident now.

"I told you, I'm fine, just go back to sleep...I am," the smaller boy moved so he was leaning against the pillows again and he closed his eyes and relaxed. Soon, Gracia crossed the room to Alphonse and was whispering gently to him, assuring him everything would be fine.

Edward felt tears slip down his face as he thought of how much Gracia reminded him of their mother. When she finally left the room after Alphonse had fallen asleep he sat up gingerly, careful not to make any sudden movements that would hurt his ribs.

He stopped to gather himself before sliding his feet onto the floor, shivering slightly as his flesh foot hit the cool tile. He slowly and quietly made his way out of the room and into the bathroom that was just down the hall. He still had the taste of vomit in his mouth, so despite the fact that every movement was causing him sheer agony, he forced himself to continue.

Once he made it to the bathroom and turned on the light, he glanced around for his toothbrush. When he found it he nearly shouted out in frustration, 'damn it all!' he thought, 'why in the Hell did it have to be up there?'

The place in question was the second shelf from the top on a stand in the bathroom. Ordinarily not a problem, but of course, that was when he was able to raise his arms beyond chest level, let alone head height. Edward thought of just giving up and going back to bed, but he swallowed and the taste nearly caused him to relapse, and he decided he was definitely going to brush his teeth.

He took a deep breath and reached up, snagging the toothbrush with his middle and ring finger on his automail hand. He nearly shouted out victoriously, but stopped himself, knowing he was far from victory. He still had to find the toothpaste, brush his teeth, as well as get back to bed.

Knowing this, he wondered if it was really worth it, but shook his head as he searched for the toothpaste. He was Edward Elric, and Edward Elric was not one to give up.

He finally brushed his teeth and started heading back to his room when he heard his brother scream. He cringed, having a good idea why his brother would cry out like that, 'shit!' he thought, 'must have taken longer than I thought to brush my teeth,'

As expected, Gracia and Maes crossed the hallway to see what was wrong, not having noticed Edward due to the layout of the house, and the next thing he heard his little brother say was, "Brother's gone!"

He saw the light turn on and heard Gracia gasp. He sighed and figured he might as well get the punishment over with now, and he walked into the room.

"Ed!" three voices exclaimed, one tear-filled, the other two laced in anger. The young boy lowered his head and walked over, wincing inwardly with each step.

"What were you doing, Edward?" Maes asked.

"Brushing my teeth," the boy muttered through clenched teeth. It seemed like a good idea at the time, but now...

"In the middle of the night?" Maes looked skeptical.

"Had to get the taste out of my mouth..." he muttered.

"Edward? Are you alright? You got really pale all of a sudden," Gracia told him.

Indeed the young boy had gotten very pale and looked very unsteady. He stumbled over to the bed and sat on it, but the pain only got worse.

Edward closed his eyes tightly, biting his lower lip as he waited for the pain to subside, which it eventually did, but not before the others in the room realized something was wrong.

"Ed? What is it?" Al asked, worry in his voice.

"Nothing, Al. Just shouldn't have moved so much I guess," the boy answered, his arms wrapped around his ribs.

"What exactly were you doing?" Gracia asked him.

"I told you, I was brushing my teeth. The toothbrush was just higher than I could reach, and now I'm paying for it," Edward said exasperatedly.

"Then why not ask for help?" Al asked him.

"'Cause I don't need it, Al! I don't need help, and neither of us needs the false sympathy from these city people! We have our own house and were living fine until they came along, and your playing right into their trap! They only want us here to lure out Mom's killer!" Edward shouted, then breathed in sharply as his ribs burned from shouting.

"Sometimes you do need help, Brother, and these 'city people' want to help you, really! And any information they want about that night they won't be able to get from me; I didn't see the killer, only you did! And did you ever think that maybe they want to find him so they can make him tell where Daddy is?" Al yelled back.

"Enough about that damn bastard! I told you time and again, Al! He isn't coming home; ever!" the boy broke off in a fit of coughing, "that bastard is as good as dead," he muttered.

"Don't say that! He will come home! I know it! H-he promised, Brother! He said that whenever he left he'd make sure to come back home, no matter what!"

"Stop it! Just shut up, Alphonse! He doesn't care about us, just like he didn't care about mom!"

"He did care about her! Maybe he just doesn't know what happened, or maybe he was captured, or-!"

"He knows better than anyone what happened to mom and he doesn't care! He-!" the boy stopped abruptly with a gasp as he realized what he was going to say.

"He what? What were you gonna say, Ed?" Alphonse asked, his voice growing soft again.

"Nothing. He's just not coming back and you need to accept that," the blond boy told him. A few minutes passed before Edward paled so much it made the crisp white sheets look discolored before lurching forward to the garbage can, one hand in front of his mouth in attempt to keep himself from getting sick on the floor. He coughed and was violently sick again, but when he brought his hand back, it was covered in bright red blood.

"What the fuck?" he muttered, reaching with his automail hand for a tissue to wipe his hand off before anyone saw, but it was too late; Maes and Gracia saw and as Gracia handed Alphonse his jacket, Maes ran out of the room for his keys.

"Wh-what's going on?" Edward asked before coughing up another mouthful of blood; he was starting to feel lightheaded.

"We need to get you back to the hospital, Ed. Coughing up blood is a serious matter, especially in your case," Gracia told him as she handed him his coat.

"No! No hospitals, they mean needles and I don't want 'em!" Edward shouted as he backed against the wall.

"Brother! They may not give you a needle, it might just be medicine or something," Al told him with a hint of a whimper in his voice.

Edward glared at his brother before sighing "I hate you," he muttered, but the look on Al's face told Gracia that the blond boy hadn't really meant it.

Edward took a few unsteady steps forward before falling forward coughing, blood dripping from the corner of his mouth, until he finally lost consciousness.

**Uh-oh, looks like something's wrong with Ed! Will it be fixed? I hope so! Because honestly, I can't remember what is wrong with him... D:**

**Anyway, this may or may not be the last update for a while. I want to update either late Tuesday night or really early Wednesday morning, but I'm not sure I'll be able to considering my parents have no idea I wrote this out or that I even watch FMA so I've been keeping this secret and I really don't want them knowing about this so-*takes a breath* I've been limited to updating when they aren't around. Reason I won't be updating much, if at all this week is because I'm in Sr. concert band and we are headed to Edmonton for a few days to perform. But no worries, I will update when I get back and I will probably be working on that sequel for this. It's still debateable whether I'll post this because I like the way it ends, but several are interested so we'll see.**


	13. Hospital

**Man, when I first posted this I figured the turnout was going to be like my other fanfics, little to no reviews, but here we are, on chapter 13 with 33 reviews! Man I love y'all guys so much for this!**

**Pure Innocence Flowing Time : Yeah, unless I'm posting a chapter or something, I typically won't sign in, I review using my name though :D And yeah, can't have a proper fanfic if Ed isn't afraid of needles :D Yeah, the reason for that, not even sure if its a valid reason for coughing up blood, and if it's so simple to fix...Ah well, it's FF, I wrote it in thhe dead of night most nights, so there doesn't need to be much fact XD Yeah, he does, but we'll see as the story goes along if he can do that. So sad though...**

**St. Iggy: Yup, my love for anime (especially anime that has much swearing, blood and death like FMA) is one that is best left secret. My mom would flip if she knew, she already thinks I act morbid, if she knew I was writing FF, or even if she was to look at my original story that I'm writing...She'd read too far into it and think I was crazy or suicidal or something, which I ain't, and I really don't want or need that kind of stress in my life right now.**

**GhostMajor: Thank you, and I would, but like I said, my mom would flip if she looked at any of my stuff that I've written, and I really don't need that kind of stress in my life right now, so for the time being, it's best left alone.**

**Anyway, new chapter :D hope y'all enjoy, and please review at the end :D**

"-Just fine, and should be waking up soon,"

"Look! He's waking up! Brother? Brother, can you hear me?"

"Easy, Alphonse, give him a minute,"

Edward blinked after a moment before glancing around his surroundings. He quickly recognized it as another hospital and tried to remember why he was there again.

"Why?" was all he was able to say before his brother hugged him.

"I was so scared!" Alphonse cried.

"What the hell happened?" Edward asked.

"Still swearing up a storm huh?" the doctor asked with a chuckle.

"Do I know you?" Edward asked after a moment of staring at him.

"Not surprised you don't recognize me, it's been quite a while, and I was transferred. I was your doctor a few years ago when you were shot by-"

"I know who it was, you don't need to remind me," Edward told him quickly, "so, your that guy huh? Yeah, I recognize you...Mind telling me why I'm stuck here again?"

"There was a small tear in your stomach, and when you reached up you made it worse, so you started throwing up blood...It's fixed now, but we'd like to keep you for a few days for observation, and to make sure you don't do anything strenuous,"

"Asshole." Edward muttered bitterly.

"Hey, you kiss your mom with that mouth?" a voice asked from the other side of the small room. The Hughes's and Alphonse looked over and Al waved to him.

"Hey, you were right! My brothers alright!" Al yelled happily.

The boy frowned in confusion before recognition dawned on him, "Alphonse! Hey, so that's your brother?"

"Al, who the hell is this guy?" Edward glared at the other boy who waved nervously.

"His name is Ling, he swallowed a quarter on a dare and got appendicitis. Hey! Wait, why are you still here?" Alphonse whirled around to face the other boy again.

"Got into a fight last night with my buddies. Swallowed another quarter, it's my last one though; I hate having to do make-up tests and assignments," Ling sighed.

"You are one strange guy..." Edward told him.

"Heh, says the guy whose hair is so long he could easily be mistaken for a girl," Ling replied.

"Leave my hair out of it!" Edward snapped.

"Cool it, man...We're gonna be stuck here in the same room for a couple days, might as well make the best of it,"

"Whatever," Edward glared back at the doctor, "so how long do I have to stay here this time?"

"Two days, providing there's no complications," the doctor told him before looking at his watch, "and I hate to bring this up, bit visiting hours are over," no sooner had he told them this and a voice rang through the hospital announcing the end of hospital hours.

"We'll be back in the morning, Ed," Gracia assured him.

Edward just yawned, "whatever," he muttered.

The adults left, followed by a very hesitant Alphonse and soon all was quiet.

"Edward is it? Good to know you survived the car accident," Ling finally said.

"How the hell did you know about that?" Edward gasped.

"Met your brother that day, he was damn near hysterical; terrified you were gonna die," Ling looked at the blond before him.

"Yeah? Was he alright?" the boy's eyes went wide in fear.

"Had an asthma attack or something, and needed a hand with his inhaler, but he was fine. Except, you know, being scared," there was a long pause before Ling ran his hand through his dark hair, "geez, you guys really need to cut your hair though. I nearly made a fool of myself that day; I thought your brother was a girl,"

"You WHAT?" Edward shouted, bolting up.

"Heheh, yeah. Man, when was the last time you guys got your hair cut?"

Edward looked away, "Bout three years," he muttered.

"Really? And your mom's alright with that? Geez, my mom would flip!"

"Just shut up and go to sleep, jerk," Edward snapped bitterly.

"Hey, I wasn't saying anything against her; she seems really nice. Though you don't look like her, or your dad," Ling commented.

"They aren't my parents. Mom's dead," Ed muttered.

"Dad?" Ling asked.

"Only Al gives a damn about where he is. Now we're stuck with those people until they decide what orphanage to throw Al and I into," Edward turned his head to the side and closed his eyes and Ling finally left him alone.

"Dude! Wake up already, Ed!"

Edward jerked awake and bolted up straight covered in a cold sweat and panting heavily.

"Calm down, it's over," a young voice assured him. Ed looked around, half expecting to see his brother, but instead saw the face of Ling next to him.

Edward pulled away from the contact, "what the fuck are you doing?" he spat.

"Trying to help before you whacked yourself with your own arm," was the reply.

Edward looked at his right arm and saw that his glove was gone, probably had been right from the get-go, and his automail was clearly showing.

"What do you mean?" the blond boy asked.

"How familiar are you with nightmares that make you cry, 'mom, Alphonse, stop, and Dad, please, don't do it, it hurts'?" Ling repeated the words Edward had been muttering.

Edward lifted his left hand to where the automail began on his shoulder, "anything else?" he muttered.

"Yeah, you were also crying out, 'please, I'm sorry...Just don't hate me for what I did.' and 'leave him alone,'" Ling sat cross-legged at the other end of Edwards bed, "wanna talk about it?" he asked.

"Pfft! Yeah right! Like I'd talk to the guy who thought Al and I were girls!" Edward scowled.

"Fine, but I hope you don't plan on making these nightmares a regular thing. I'd like a decent nights sleep," Ling muttered darkly as he went back to his own bed.

Ed watched the dark haired boy curiously before blinking back a few tears that had decided to show up. Cursing himself mentally, he rolled onto his side and fell asleep.

In the morning, Ling and Edward tried to get the others story without revealing their own, and neither one was very willing to give up information, so they were trying to trick it out of each other. They talked for several hours until visiting hours began, and the only one who found out anything new was Edward, who'd found out that Ling had two younger sisters, one had asthma, and his dad died while his mom worked two jobs and was rarely at home.

Ling was about to figure out some information himself when Alphonse and Gracia walked in, apologizing for Maes who had had to work, but as long as his brother was there, Ed really didn't care.

"Brother, don't do anything stupid, Kay?" Alphonse pleaded, "I-it's hard to get to sleep, and the nightmares won't go away,"

"Oh, so these nightmares are a hereditary thing, huh?" Ling piped up from behind Al.

"Shut the fuck up!" Edward yelled angrily.

"Y-you have them too? I-I thought...I didn't know..." tears sprung to the younger Elric's eyes.

"Ed," Alphonse finally whispered, "why didn't you ever tell me? I wouldn't have bothered you with mine had I known you were having nightmares of it too. You remember it clearer; you saw who killed mom," he had a hurt expression on his face.

"That kid doesn't know what he's talking about!" Edward scoffed, "besides, I pester you into telling me, and I wouldn't do that if it bothered me. I was muttering things in my sleep and he took it as a nightmare, it was the first time in practically forever!"

"Really?" The bronze haired boy cheered up a bit.

"Really, and I promise, I'll get better real quick,"

"Good, cause we miss you a lot," Al said with a grin.

"We?"

"Yeah, we. Me, Mr. Hughes, and Ms. Gracia; we,"

Ed glanced at the door for any sign of Gracia returning and then looked his brother square in the eye, "look, Al, I told you, they don't care about us, they're just gonna put us in an orphanage as soon as they can, so quit getting so attached to them," he said hurriedly.

"But Brother," Al protested.

"End. Of. Discussion," Edward told him firmly.

**So Ling Yao makes another appearance. Y'all didn't seem to have much to say on him, what d'ya think? have him around if I write a sequel, or just leave him out altogether? your choice people. Anyway, the reason for Edward coughing up blood, don't really know if it's valid and how dangerous it is or nothin' since a lot of my FF are written while driving, at school during breaks, or in the dead of night, all of which I have limited resources to, so if it's wrong, please tell me, but can we keep it nice? please?**

**Oh, and as with before, if you see anywhere that says Joey, please let me know as it is supposed to be Ling :D**

**Anyway, this is the last chapter I'll be posting before I go to Edmonton, so I hope you enjoy it :D and thank you so much to all of you that have reviewed this, it really makes this all worthwhile :D :HUG:**

**F*** YES! I FREAKING LOVE FROSTWIRE! Yeah, sorry, after searching for nearly 45 minutes I finally found several FMA openings, endings, and themes, including 2 of my favorites, RAIN, and PERIOD. I love those so much...Anyway, sorry for the random outburst, but I had to tell someone who might care, and again, parents dont know about my enjoyment of anime, and that includes Japanese songs ^^;**


	14. Insomnia

**Kay, I had replies all done and everything, but then my computer did something weird and I lost it, so I don't want to type it all out again, sorry guys. Anyway though, I'm back, thanks for all the reviews, and here is the next chapter. enjoy :)**

The days passed slowly and Edward had nothing better to do than talk to Ling, or play cards with him. The two became pretty good friends and Edward found out that the dark haired boy went to school nearby, and was the same age, even though Ling didn't believe it.

"Your a shrimp! There is no way your ten!" Ling laughed.

"Don't call me small!" Edward shouted.

"Hey, I just call 'em as I see 'em," Ling grinned, then pointed to the automail, "think maybe your arm is keeping you short? I've heard about that happening before,"

"That's what old Pinako thought too, but Al thinks it's because I don't drink milk...Actually, Pinako thinks it's more likely that it's because I don't drink milk, but when I asked if the automail could be stunting my growth, she said 'it's possible,'" Edward crossed his arms and glared at the metal one that looked so out of place compared to his pale skin.

"Nah, your just short," Ling laughed again.

"Hey, at least I don't swallow quarters! So fuck you!" Edward yelled in defense.

Ling's smile faltered a moment, "hey, swallow quarters I might, but the money I get in return is a hell of a lot more than a couple bucks. It seems no one will believe a kid will swallow loose change, so they put down a few dollars that say otherwise. I swallow the quarter, collect the money, my uncle removes it for nothin'!"

"And what kind of idiot does that?"

"One who needs a little extra cash," Ling shrugged, "what kind of idiot runs into a street and gets himself hit when he has a metal limb that'll freeze him?"

"Again I say; fuck you!" Edward yelled.

"Brother!" Al walked into the room just in time to hear his brother swear.

"Hey Al," Edward said with a groan.

"Hey, Brother. Hi Ling," Al smiled weakly and Ed could tell something was wrong.

"What's going on, Al?" Edward asked.

"Haven't slept very well," the boy yawned, " Anyway, it's just me here today, Mr. Hughes is at work, and Ms. Gracia apologizes for just dropping me off here, but she's got some errands to do," the bronze haired boy yawned again, and his brother slid out of bed and sat on the nearby chair.

"Brother, what're you doing?" Alphonse asked.

"You need some sleep, and you're not going to get any on this chair, so obviously there's only one logical place you could sleep," Edward said in a matter of fact tone of voice.

Alphonse looked at him gratefully before sitting on the bed. The three boys talked for about an hour before the youngest finally fell asleep, and after that it was pretty quiet.

Alphonse slept for several hours before a young, pretty nurse walked into the room. It was the same one Edward had stabbed with a needle so she was pretty nervous knowing who she was dealing with, but to her surprise there were three children in the room. Ling she knew, Edward she definitely recognized, but the third child she did not.

"Who is that?" she asked.

"My brother," Edward answered shortly, "he was tired, I'm not, so he gets the bed,"

"Oh...Alright then," the nurse shrugged, "well, I came in here to let you know that you'll be cleared to go for tomorrow. You just need a shot,"

Edward stiffened in his seat, "a-a shot?"

"Yep, no big deal," the nurse busied herself with the task of preparing the needle and walked to the small boy who was frantically trying to get away from the sharp tip of the needle.

"Just stay still a moment, it's just a quick poke and it's all over," the nurse assured him.

"N-no, I don't need it... J-just stay away from me!" he tried to knock the offending object out of her hand, but she grabbed his wrist and cleaned a spot on his forearm to insert the needle.

Edward whimpered in fear, and soon he was lashing out rather violently as he tried to get away but the nurse simply grabbed his arm and gave him the shot.

"There," the nurse said after she finished," now, was that really so bad?" she got no response so she merely shrugged and left the room.

"Let me get this straight; you can get hit by a car, have that auto-crap attached to you, but a tiny needle and you are terrified and try and get away?" Ling laughed.

"Leave me alone," Edward muttered. He turned away and closed his eyes hoping that would give the boy the hint that he wanted to be left alone, but all hope for that drained away when the kid completely ignored him and continued laughing.

"Oh come on! That's a stupid thing to be scared of, I mean, what's it gonna do? It pokes you in the arm, its not a death sentence or nothing,"

"Leave me alone," Edward growled a little more forcefully.

"Little Eddy scared of a tiny needle?" Ling mocked.

"Shut the Fuck up you Asstard!"

"Hey, I'm not the one scared of getting a tiny shot, that's you,"

Edward really didn't have much of a comeback that would work, but luck happened to be on his side at that moment as Gracia and Maes walked into the room. The small boy looked at the clock and realized that it was much later that he had thought, and that though his little brother had been here for quite some time, he spent most of it asleep.

"Edward, why are you sitting there, and where is Alphonse?" Gracia asked.

"Al is asleep," Ed nodded to the bed and the bronze haired boy stirred and finally woke up, rubbing his eyes and blinking slowly with a slightly confused expression on his face.

"Hey, Al. Guess you weren't kidding when you said you were tired," Edward smiled at his little brother.

Al glanced around until he saw the clock and then panicked, "I'm sorry, Brother! I really am, I don't know what happened, I just...Oh, I've been here all day but I've been asleep, I'm so sorry," he apologized over and over.

"Woah, woah, woah, calm down there. Its fine, Al. You were tired, and I offered that. It's not a big deal, really," Edward assured him.

Maes smiled at the youngest boy, "so, you finally caught up on that sleep you've been avoiding, hm? You know, Al, you can't avoid it forever just because your brothers not around,"

"I-I know," Al looked at the floor, "I've been trying, but...It doesn't work well," he muttered.

"That's alright," Gracia murmured softly before clearing her throat, "now, Edward, is there anything you'd like for supper tomorrow, since you'll be coming back with us?" she asked.

Edward jumped back in surprise; these people were asking him what he wanted for supper? Why?

"Doesn't matter," he muttered.

"Come now, Ed, surely there's something you want to eat," Maes grinned.

"No..." the boy still declined but Maes could see that barrier breaking down.

"What is it, Ed?"

Edward finally sighed and looked up, hope creeping into his golden eyes, "Stew?" he asked carefully.

"You sure?" Gracia asked. When the boy nodded carefully she smiled, "what kind?"

Hope lit up his eyes so the seemed to be sparkling in the light, "beef?"

"Alright, beef stew it is," and when she said those words, a slight grin lit up the boys face.

"Well, kiddo, we got to be going, but we'll be back early to pick you up and take you back," Maes promised, ruffling the kids hair.

"Alright," Edward nodded, but the Hughes's noticed that the kids grin faded and a slightly scared expression crossed his face when Maes had ruffled his hair, and they started to wonder what the reason might be.

"See ya, Brother! And I really am sorry," Al smiled weakly.

"Don't worry about it, Al," Edward called back, and as the door clicked shut behind them, he felt guilt well up in his chest. His brother was losing sleep because he was stupid, and if he couldn't shake that...When they got around to being adopted then Edward wouldn't be the only one with problems in that department.

He had read enough books to know that older kids didn't usually get adopted, and kids with any sort of disability didn't either. Parents rarely wanted to take in two kids, which pretty much shot down any chance of them both staying together, and if kids were a problem, then they were usually brought back. As Edward thought about this, he realized that there was a strong chance either him and Al would be there until they were old enough to leave, or Al would be adopted, and they'd never see each other again. With these thought weighing heavily on his mind, he ignored Ling who was still shooting his mouth off, and fell asleep...

**So, Ling swallowing coins is just one of those 'it's 2am and I got my iPod and don't wanna do research but I need a reason for Ling to be there and it grew' ideas. I dunno if this is actually possible, swallow a coin, coin is out the same day, kid stays for observation for a day, done. dunno, but hey, its a FF, just go with it.**

**Al has insomnia issues it seems (I can sympathize) but from what we can tell he hasn't had any issues with breathing, so that's good, and he also managed to get a nap, also good.**

**As for Ed, he's alive, he got a shot, he's gettin' him some stew, not a bad day all in all I guess. Although, he's starting to worry about what'll happen when they find an orphanage to take them in. He doesn't want to be separated from his brother, but knowing Ed, he won't say too much.**

**Anyway, please review, because even when I don't have responses I do read them, and if you have any questions or suggestions on how I should do a sequel, or who I should include, I'd love to hear them, and I will reply to them if I use said ideas or to reply to your questions.**

**Only about 6 or so more chapters if I counted correctly guys. I'm really sad to see this fic coming to an end, especially when there's so many people reviewing when I post a chapter. **

**NEWS UPDATE!**

**FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO ARE UNAWARE, I WILL BE DOING A SEQUEL! MAY TAKE A WHILE TO GET IT COMPLETED, BUT A SEQUEL WILL BE DONE!**

**There. Now I am commited, and I need to get my butt in gear!**


	15. Mistletoe And Wine

**Sorry for the delay. I was going to update a few days ago but my dad came home from school early and as explained before, my parents are unaware of my writing this. Anyway, as I said, we are coming to a close with this fic, but I hope that when I finally get the sequel out you will all return to read it.**

**Eternal Love's Eclipse: Thank you, I'm very glad to hear my writing is getting more fluid now and I'm glad you enjoyed the last update. Hope you like this one :)**

**DeathBySugarCube: Hm, interesting. I might have t cut in the sequel, but for now, he's got long hair. Glad to hear you liked the chapter :)**

**Joker Oak: Yeah, I'm doing one of those, but the question is how to explore their lives, although I have 2 different paths going, so hopefully one of them will work out.**

**St. Iggy: Nope. Brief but pretty crucial detail about Ed. Yeah, didn't really think about sizes of coins when I wrote that. As I recall there was a quarter on my desk next to me so I thought, 'hey! a quarter! why not use that?' And I'm glad to hear you look forward to the sequel.**

**Fanged Alchemist: Thank you! unfortuneately, you will have to wait because it is really slow going. Like glacier slow. Sorry.**

"Wake up. Wake up. Wake up. Wake up." a monotone voice cut through Edwards dream and he slowly opened his eyes to see his younger brother staring at him on his left side poking his shoulder as he spoke.

"What the fuck? Al? Al what's the matter with you?" Edward sat up and was tossed his black outfit and red coat.

Al stuck out his tongue, "come on, Brother. Get dressed already!" he was grinning like mad and the second Edward had finished pulling on his red coat and black boots, Alphonse grabbed his arm and practically dragged him to where Maes and Gracia were standing.

Gracia laughed at the sight before her, "ready to go I see?"

"Yup!" Al answered cheerfully and turned to face Ling, "see you, Ling!"

"Yup," Ling waved to his new found friends as they left.

After a few minutes of clearing up paper work, the four were getting in the car and driving back. Alphonse had become accustomed to riding in the vehicle, but as Edward had been in the hospital a good portion of his time with the Hughes's, he still felt pretty sick. It was a half hour drive back, and he kept his eyes on the window and focused on the places they passed.

After about ten minutes, the boy had brought his knees up and focused on keeping his last meal in his stomach. Gracia watched him with worry in her eyes, as did Al, but both knew that he just needed to ride in the car more often.

Edward knew this too, unfortunately, the thought of riding in the god forsaken vehicle enough times to get used to it made his stomach turn and he leaned his head back against the seat and sat normally again as he breathed deeply, trying to calm his stomach.

When they finally got to the house, Edward fought with the seatbelt for a moment before jumping gratefully out of the vehicle, Alphonse following behind and shutting the car door. The older boy stood still for a few minutes before following Gracia inside where he looked around to see what had changed.

It was mostly the same until he noticed a green tree off to the side by the wall, with several cardboard boxes nearby with the word 'decorations' written on the side in marker.

"So Edward, feeling up to helping us decorate the tree?" Maes asked.

Edward walked slowly to the couch and shook his head, "I'll just watch," he muttered.

"A-alright, but if you change your mind, we'd love your help," Maes told him, and Al looked from the tree to his brother as if wondering which he should choose.

"Go on, Al. I'll be fine," Edward forced a smile and Al grinned back and started helping with the decorations.

The two adults and the boy worked hard while Edward watched, feeling guilty as he saw the way they looked like a real family.

As he looked on and the tree was nearly finished being decorated, he remembered two things; his birthday was soon, and the tune of a song they had sung during the holidays. He closed his eyes and began humming; softly at first, but as he got into the song he began muttering the words, and Al turned, having heard his brother muttering a familiar tune, and when he recognized it for what it was, he joined in,"

_"Christmas time, mistletoe and wine._  
_Children singing Christian rhyme._  
_With logs on the fire, and gifts on the tree,_  
_A time to rejoice in the good that we see,"_ the boys started quietly, but they sung louder and looked at each other smiling as they hummed the tune.

_"It's a time for giving, a time for getting_  
_A time for forgiving, and for forgetting_  
_Christmas is love, Christmas is peace_  
_A time for hating and fighting to cease..."_ the boys were both into the song from their childhood so much they forgot about the two adults in the room.

_"Christmas time, mistletoe and wine._  
_Children singing Christian rhyme._  
_With logs on the fire, and gifts on the tree,_  
_A time to rejoice in the good that we see,"_

Maes and Gracia looked on as the boys finished the song. When they did the two adults clapped politely and the boys spun around, hope and happiness in their eyes at first, but Edwards eyes quickly darkened and he stood up and left.

"Al, do you know what's wrong with your brother?" Gracia asked before realizing the younger boy was crying.

"W-we haven't sung that...Since mom and dad..." he sniffed, and Gracia nodded in understanding.

Maes cleared his throat, "I'll check on Ed," and he walked out of the room, still holding the star.

He went into the boys' room where he found Edward sitting on his bed, wiping his eyes with his sleeve.

Maes walked slowly to him and sat next to him, the star resting on his lap, "you alright there?" he asked, receiving a nod in return.

"We haven't sung that...Since we were a family..." Ed muttered after a moment.

"It was very beautiful...Now, mind telling me what's got you so upset? I have the feeling it's not just the song," Maes smiled.

"We left our things...At our house...The man with the cigarette said it could be replaced, but he...He's wr-wrong," Edward struggled to keep his voice steady.

"There's something there you want to get, isn't there?" Maes asked and the young boy beside him nodded.

"What is it?" Maes set down the star on the bed so it wouldn't fall off.

"Pictures...Mostly," Edward muttered.

"Mostly?"

"There's Christmas decorations that Al and I made...It's stupid, forget it," the boy started going back to his usual self but Maes shook his head.

"Get your coat on, and I'll talk to Gracia. You and I are going to Resembool to get those pictures and decorations,"

"Alright," Edward said with a small smile.

Approximately two and a half hours later, Edward was going through the house he had been living in for nearly eleven years. He went into the room he shared with Al and pulled out a box and then to his bed and then Al's, grabbing a picture frame and a small photo album from under the pillows of each bed. Then he went to his desk and brought out a camera and placed the five objects in the box that already had several objects in them.

After making sure everything was safe and nothing would break, he closed the box and picked it up and followed Maes back to the car.

It took about three hours to get back and Maes helped Edward hide the box so Al wouldn't find it. When they went into the kitchen they found Al and Gracia making Christmas cookies, and Edward was invited to help and he accepted. For the first time in a long while, Edward was finally truly happy during the holidays.

**So, This was the last appearance of Ling Yao, but, thanks to Eternal Love's Eclipse, I am going to do a one-shot with TRHT!Ling. His point of view on the Brothers situation. So for those of you that liked his appearance in this, go thank Eternal Love's Eclipse.**

**And I have no idea when Ed's birthday is, but it was snowing in the original anime on his twelfth birthday, so I'm going to say its around christmas because it fits well with one of the upcoming chapters. SLIGHT SPOILER ALERT! it's really sad, or at least I think so~OH! new idea for a direction the sequel could take...Nah, probably won't take that direction, moving on.**

**Anyway, hope you like the chapter, please review and tell me what you think and I'd love to hear any ideas about things you'd like to see happen in the sequel and I'll see what I can do about it.**


	16. Happy Birthday, Ed!

**Danggit! Just when I thought the chapters were lengthening and whatnot, I look and the next few chapter are shorter then me! Damn iPod, making notes look longer then they actually are. Sorry guys for the lack of fluidity (is that even a word? Oh well) But I should be able to update a few times because, get this, Teacher Strike. Yeah. Yesterday there was no school due to it being some kind of holiday, today I have school, Wednesday and Thursday are the days the teachers are going on strike, and Friday would be a school day except my dad is graduating and we are going to celebrate his doing so, so today is my only day of school!**

**DeathBySugarCube: yay! I'm getting readers! Thanks, glad you liked it.**

**Eternal Love's Eclipse: Thanks. The song is called mistletoe and wine. You can find it on youtube i believe. I'll be happy to hear your input on what I should do for the sequel, cause I'm having a bit of a hard time with it, and am more focused on an idea that popped into my head a few nights ago.**

**awesomenaruto: Sorry for making you wait for such a short chapter. I really feel bad. hope you like it though.**

**St. Iggy:Aw, I'm sorry you were having a horrible day, but I'm glad I could make it better. I know how you feel when you're day sucks and you a FF you're enjoying is updated. It turns your whole outlook around sometimes :D Sorry about the short chapter, but I'll be updating quickly hopefully to make up for it.**

**Joker Oak: Heh, yeah, I don't even bother signing in to review. Too much work and I can't even remember my email or password half the time, haha. Glad you liked the last chapter. Hm, you got the ending down in one of em, but the other, I hadn't really considered...Maybe I'll try that...Thanks, it gives me something to consider. Don't worry about it. My iPod does the same thing, autocorrecting and then I don't always realize it until I've sent it.**

**Anyway, on with the chapter!**

A few says later was Edwards eleventh birthday, and he awoke to the smell of bacon. He got dressed and walked into the kitchen where he was greeted by Maes and his camera, Gracia and breakfast, and Alphonse carried three wrapped boxes.

"Surprise!" they shouted when he entered the room and Edward glared at his brother.

"I told you not to tell!" he growled.

"Too bad," Al told him grinning, "and anyway, I didn't tell, they found out themselves,"

"Come eat, Ed, then you can open your gifts," Gracia told him.

The four of them sat and ate the bacon, eggs and toast Gracia had made and when they were finished and the dishes were washed, dried and put away Al dragged his brother to the couch and gave him one of the brightly colored boxes.

Edward glanced at them before opening it. The card said it was from Maes, and when he opened it he saw a deck of cards, a new pair of gloves, and three books, one being a math book.

"We didn't really know what you liked, so I apologize if you don't like it, but I have noticed you've been looking through some old math books from when I was younger..." Maes told him, but it fell on deaf ears. The young boy was ecstatic. He thanked the man for the gift and quickly tried on the gloves which fit perfectly. He read the backs of the other two books and found them sounding very interesting and looked forward to reading them later.

Al handed him another box, this one from Gracia, and inside he found a chess set, "Al told me you liked chess, I hope it's alright," the young boy nodded happily, smiling as he picked up the wooden black queen, admiring the workmanship.

Al then handed him a small box wrapped in red paper, "I hope you like it, Brother," he told him and Edward opened it carefully and inside, resting on a small velvet cushion, was a silver pocket-watch with a carved dragon on it.

Edward gasped in shock before looking at his brother. The watch had been one that they had seen the year before; Al didn't much care for it, but Edward looked at it whenever they passed by the shop that had sold it.

"Al...I can't believe this...When-?"

"Been saving up since we saw it...I hope it's alright," Al looked apologetic but the older boy pulled him into a hug.

"Thank you, Al," he whispered, "thank you,"

**I love that watch, and couldn't resist throwing it in there. Anyway, I know it's short and my notes are longer then the chapter itself, but hopefull I'll update again soon to make up for it. Really feel bad here guys, honestly I didn't know it was so short since I write on my iPod and it makes it look longer.**

**Anyway, sequels kinda on hold because a new idea has planted itself in my mind. I'll probably post it when I am done, but warning, it's really sad, and Ed is so freaking ooc, it's not even funny.**

**So, please review, tell me what you thought, hope you liked it but I can understand if you didn't. More coming soon, i promise.**

**Final thoughts: You wanna know what gets on my nerves. The fact that people can't seem to spell Sheska. I mean, it's not hard. It's spelled like it sounds. Shes-ka. but you go and look for a story with her in it, and you can't find all of them. seriiously, some attempts I've seen: Shezka, Shceczka, Schiezcka. It just gets on my nerves.**


	17. Bad News On Christmas Morn

**Hey guys, sorry for the wait but everytime my parents have gone out to get groceries, my brother and i have been stuck coming, so I haven't had any alone time to update. Anyway, I know the length of the chapter isn't compensation for my late update, but we are getting to the end of this, so you won't have to worry about it anymore.**

**St. Iggy: Hm, thanks, I'll try that. Yeah, I love the watch too. As for the spelling, I've seen that a lot too, and it just doesn't lit would be pronounced Sheska. Hope you like the chapter!**

**FullmetalFan16: really? Hm, doesn't look like it'd be pronounced that way.**

**DeathBySugarCube: Thank you! I think so too! :D**

**Raven of the Willows: Thank you, and I am honored that you would sign in just to tell me that, thank you. :)**

**Fanged Alchemist: sorry for making you wait, and the sequel is coming, but as I said, its kinda taken a bit of a backdoor to another idea that made itself known. Darn Youtube videos, putting ideas in, but I know where that one is headed, so i'll be able to work on the sequel some more soon hopefully.**

**Eternal Love's Eclipse: Yeah, I realized that when I looked at the word count. I read that fic, and it's pretty good. I don't think Ed is ooc as in that fic, but i dunno, might be my perspective. I'll leave that for y'all to decide when (if?) i post it.**

**Joker Oak: Well, here it is. I find it kinda sad, but it gets worse in the next chapter or two. *tear* Aw, crap, I'm actually tearing now! BRB...Anyway, hope you like it. Sequel's slow going, but still going.**

**As a Jester Fool and Joker: yup, but it's easier to keep people from reading the notes, especially when it's almost always in my pocket :D Thank you, and yeah, so would I, including math book (I love math). I KNOW EH? I LOVE IT TOO! Sorry for the slow update.**

Throughout the next few days the house was rather chaotic as the young couple prepared for Christmas. Gifts were wrapped, Edward finally showed Al the decorations and they placed them on the tree, and the last decoration to go on was the star Alphonse and Edward had made themselves a few years before.

Edward had found some wrapping paper and tape and had wrapped his brothers photo album and the picture he held so dear and placed them under the tree, making sure all the while that his brother never saw his own picture and photo album. He couldn't wait to see his brothers face on Christmas day when he opened the gift.

Maes and Gracia noticed that Edward had become more cheerful and less wary of the two adults. They also noticed he didn't wear his gloves all the time anymore, as if he had forgotten or something. Alphonse noticed this too, and while he was happy his brother wasn't hiding it from him anymore, it also made him quite sad, because he knew that what Edward had said was true; they weren't staying, they'd be dropped off in an orphanage somewhere, and he knew Ed wouldn't be so trusting the next time around.

On Christmas morning, both boys woke up early; six in the morning by Ed's pocket watch. So they decided to play cards and chess while they waited for Maes and Gracia to wake up.

Several games of cards and two games of chess later, Gracia knocked gently on the door, "breakfast anyone?" she asked.

That afternoon there was a knock on the door. Maes answered it and in walked Roy Mustang, Jean Havoc, Riza Hawkeye, Heymans Breda, and Kain Feury, all with several boxes.

"Merry Christmas!" Maes greeted his coworkers.

"Same to you, Maes," Roy muttered, "did you tell them yet?" he asked as the others walked past and greeted Gracia.

"Like I'm going to tell them on Christmas. Especially when Edward is finally happy," Maes rolled his eyes wearily.

"Then I'll tell them, tonight after supper. And tomorrow you will take them to the orphanage,"

**So here it is, and once again I've practically tripled my word count on this author notes. *shakes head* Hopefully you still like it and I'm working on making the chapters for the sequel longer then this. So far I think its working, but I'm only on chapter three and, spoiler alert, Ed is frikkin' PISSED at Maes right now. Yeah, that may or may not stay, depending on where it goes, but so far, its in.**

**Anyway, sad ending, and it only gets worse from here. My god! only three chapters left though! NUUUU! *tears* Aw crap! im actually tearing up. AGAIN! Danggit! BRB dudes...Alrighty, anyway, y'all know the drill. Please review, let me know what you think, again, ideas on sequel are loved although now I have a bit of an idea where its headed unlike when i wrote this up, but still. Any ideas for other FF's you think I could write are also loved. I'm on a FMA kick right now and I do hurt/comfort and angst. sadder things, ya know?**

**Anyway, reviews are loved. I'll try and update soon.**


	18. Lies And Guilt

**Holy crap did chapter 17 get a large amount of reviews. guess I should have seen it coming though, but I really enjoy reviews :D Anyway, here's the update. I was hoping to update at school since I uploaded the chapter this morning, but I couldn't remember my password (My laptop has a remembering thing on for this site, so if it gets messed up somehow, I'm screwed) but anyway, here it is.**

**shooting2stars: well, remember, they were only with the Hughes until they could find a place to stay. Now they've found one, now they go. So sad :( As for your other question, well you'll just have to keep reading to find out.**

**YAJJ: Yeah, I'm sad too. And thank you. I've read some of your material and you're very good as well. I hope this was a quick enough update for you :D**

**As A Jester Fool and Joker: I know, I'm sad too. Well, I dunno how you'd classify it. It's an orphanage, not a home, so...Anyway, here's your update.**

**Fanged Alchemist: They were only staying with Maes and Gracia until a more suitable arrangement could be made. An orphange has been found, thus they must leave.**

**St. Iggy: Everyone's badmouthing Maes because of this. It's not really his fault you know, it was a temporary stay to begin with, nothing permanent. I tried to incorporate alchemy, but it wouldn't work right. It seemed, i dunno, awkward I guess, so no alchemy. And fourth or fifth chapter now :D I'm pretty proud of myself.**

**Raven of the Willows: No prob, and yeah, I was hoping for that too. So sad :(**

**DeathBySugarCube: Well, I don't know if you'd call this detailed. I wouldn't really, but I think I might put a more detailed one in the sequel. Kind of like a flashback chapter or something. I dunno, either way, hope you enjoy the chapter...Eh, what the heck, revision time! Hope this is a bit more detailed :D well, you...wouldn't know, you haven't read the original. Either way, enjoy! :D**

**Eternal Love's Eclipse: Sweet! I thought it was going to be too short, but I didn't really want to continue when writing, so I ended it there. Hope this chapter meets your satisfaction.**

**Joker Oak: well, there's a separating of the two in the sequel, will that work? Anyway, hope you enjoy the chapter.**

**Alrighty, so, what are we waiting for; on to the next chapter! (after a short revision that will have been finished by the time y'all are reading this :D)**

Everyone gave out gifts to each other, and soon the house was filled with laughter and talking. Then Breda announced it time for karaoke. The military men went first, followed by Maes and Gracia singing a duet. Roy tried to get Hawkeye to sing, but she threatened to shoot him, so they left her alone. Then Gracia fiddled with the karaoke machine and a song started playing, and the two children, who were immersed in the game of Scrabble Edward had received, both looked up and Gracia gave them each a mic.

The boys started quietly at first, but by the time they were at the last verse of the song, they were both singing proudly, just as unaware of the adults as they had been a week before.

"I don't recognize that song," Havoc said, "what's it called?"

"Mistletoe and Wine," Al told him, and Edward crawled under the tree, "Uh, what are you doing?"

"Merry Christmas, Alphonse," Edward said to his little brother as he handed him the gift.

Alphonse opened the gift and looked at the picture and photo album before setting them down and hugging his brother as he cried, "Thank you, Brother! Thank you!" he exclaimed once he got his tears under control.

"Dinner is ready!" Gracia called and everyone went into the dining room. Maes swallowed nervously, knowing what was soon coming.

"Well, I have an announcement that particularly affects four people," Roy announced when everyone was nearly finished eating. He looked at the Elric's, "there's a place for you two at an orphanage nearby. They want you there tomorrow morning, so that gives you tonight to gather your belongings and say goodbye,"

Alphonse sat there, sadness and fear on his face as he looked at his brother in disbelief. Edward was a different story though, in just a few seconds, betrayal, hurt, anger, and sadness all flashed across his face, and then he simply stood up and walked down the hall to the room that he shared with Al, said younger boy following behind. Al knew his brother was upset, and didn't want to say anything, but as he watched his older brother out a suitcase he had brought from home and started putting his things in it, leaving behind anything that hadn't been his originally or he hadn't gotten from Al, he had to ask, "Brother? Are you alright?" he asked.

"I'm fine!" Edward snapped, "We both knew it would come to this. We both knew they'd get rid of us soon, that's why I told you not to get attached!" he picked up the book he had been reading the past few nights. It was one of the ones Maes had given him for his birthday. "Lies..." He muttered, tracing the letters of the title, "It was all Lies!" he yelled, throwing the book across the room, a few tears falling down his face, "everything they told us, every kind thing they ever did for us, it was all to fuel their stupid lies! They didn't care about us, Al, and they still don't!"

"Brother, they do! Mr. Hughes looked like he felt really bad, and Ms. Gracia looked like she was about to cry! They wouldn't bother acting so upset, if they didn't actually care!" Al said, placing a hand on his brothers shoulder.

"Well if they care so much then explain why they didn't know about your panic attacks until you had one here? Maes saw you have one when we first saw him, remember? But did he bother to remember? NO! They're just as bad as the bastard who calls himself our father!" Edward shouted angrily.

"A lot happened that day, so you can't expect him to remember something like that, and dad is a great father! I bet he's looking for us right now, wondering where we are and why we aren't home! And you know what? Mr. Hughes is a good father too, and they aren't abandoning us!" Al shouted back.

Edward glared momentarily at his younger brother and then changed his clothes to his black and red outfit, rebraiding his hair before making his bed and then gather all of Al's things, forcing himself to calm down and supress his anger, "Sorry, Al. I shouldn't have yelled at you," Edward threw the younger boys outfit at him, "get changed. We might as well leave now. One more night here isn't going to make things any easier tomorrow."

Al sighed as he caught his clothes, and felt himself calming down too, "I'm sorry too, Brother. We're both sad. I-I really thought that we would...Would get to stay here...It would be like...Like we were a family again..." He whispered, pulling on his own clothes. After tugging his own shirt over his head and redoing his ponytail he noticed his brother looking at him with a sympathetic expression on his face before walking to him.

"I know, Alphonse," Edward whispered, pulling his little brother in for a hug, "I hoped so too..." and with that, both boys held onto each other for comfort and support as they cried, just as they had the nights after they went home after Edward got his automail, only this time, bitter tears of anger and betrayal were mixed in with the ones of sadness and hurt.

Afterwards, when both had erased most of the evidence that they had been crying from their faces, they went downstairs where the adults were seated in the living room, Gracia crying on her husbands shoulder and Maes looked not too far off, while Mustang spoke to them, "It was a temporary fix," he said, "you both knew that, and yet, you both seem surprised at the fact that a place opened up. It's much easier to keep an eye on them with officials giving around the clock care, and they do background checks on everyone who wants to adopt a child, so they'll be perfectly safe."

Edward cleared his throat loudly, making everyone jump, "well are we going or not?" He asked angrily.

"You have until tomorrow you know," Hawkeye told them, seeing the two dressed to go.

"What's the point? We're ready, so are we going or what?" Edward spat.

Roy stood up, "Very well then. Maes, are you coming?"

Mass looked at his wife before nodding slowly and following them into Roy's car, and Al looked at Gracia pleadingly before Edward pulled on the sleeve of his jacket and the two boys got in the backseat and they drove to the orphanage.

When they got there, arrangements were made, and within twenty minutes the two military men went to leave. Maes looked back, but Alphonse was crying and couldn't make eye contact, and Edward glared at him, hurt and betrayal visible on his face, a few tears shining in his eyes, and Maes turned away, feeling guilty about everything.

**So, there it is. A bit of a revision was done which made it longer, and more detailed, so y'all can thank DeathBySugarCube for that one :D Hope you like it, and yeah, only 2 more chapters to go, and the next one is a bit of a tear jerker, at least if you're in the right mindset, so, be on the lookout for it. Oh, and for those of you with this on story alert, don't take it off when I'm done because once I start the sequel, I will post a non-chapter chapter to let you know what it is called, and to let you know, it will start with a little prologue chapter that is the final chapter of this, just to get your heads back in the game, so yeah.**

**Anyway, please review, I'll hopefully update soon, I love all the reviews I have already gotten, suggestions are loved, they help me with ideas for future sequel chapters, even when I don't use them directly. Enjoy, and have a great day :D Evening :D Night :D Morning :D Afternoon :D Whatever! :D**

**Oh, and the book Ed threw. Lies. It's actually a book. Yup, third book in a series by Michael Grant. Great series. I'm reading Lies right now, and it just so happens to fit in so. Yeah, it was part of the revision I did, anyway, enjoy and review :D**

***update* fixed that spelling error, thanks for pointing it out DeathBySugarCube**


	19. Adopted?

**So, second last chapter is here. The one you've all been waiting for. A new character is introduced, one we haven't seen in a long time is back, and an adoption takes place. Sad chapter really, at least I find it to be.**

**FullmetalFan16: Well, here's the next chapter. Read and find out :D**

**St. Iggy: Yeah, but poor Maes, getting so many flames for this. And actually, there's four books in the series now. the fourth is called plague, but I don't have it yet. I'm nearly done Lies so I'll be starting a new series afterwards. As for the horrible orphanage owner who's mean to Ed, well, youre partly right. Here's the update.**

**Fanged Alchemist: Yeah, Christmas morning is not the time when you want to hear bad news. That would be bad, if Al found out that way.**

**Raven of the Willows: No, you'd think they'd at least wait a little while, especially with Ed so happy.**

**DeathBySugarCube: Thanks for pointing that out, I'll fix that. And thank you, and while that's a really good idea (shoulda gone that route, danggit!) He doesn't find out that way. You'll see what I mean. No prob, and thank you for the idea. I was actually tearing up while writing that (I have a habit of trying to get in Ed's head while reading and writing fanfics, and I'll often say what he's saying, and itll sometimes make me tear up) And as well, it's an amazing book! Although it would make more sense if you read the first two (gone and hunger) both really good books. anyway, here's the next chapter.**

**As a Jester Fool and Joker: don't apologize, I know I'm mean. Sending them off when they're so happy. Well, you're wait is finally over, because we've got a special chapter for you!**

**Joker Oak: read and find out. It made me tear up while writing, so lets hope y'all find it just as moving.**

**Eternal Love's Eclipse: YAY! this one is short too (sadly) but quite a bit happens, so I hope you like it, and the final update will be soon. The sequel will still be a while, but I am hoping the wait will be worth it.**

A few days later Edward and Alphonse were brought to the managers office. She was very kind, but wasn't from Amestris, so she didn't know a whole lot about the way things were run, and her English wasn't the best.

"Boys, your lucky day is today!" she declared in rough English, "this man wants to be adopting you," she showed the boy the man who wanted to adopt them and they both froze.

The man had long green hair, and a creepy smirk on his face. He looked at the boys, "these are them? Edward and Alphonse Elric?" he asked and the young boys looked at each other nervously; how did this guy know who they were?

"Elrics, yes. No others here with that name, this must be them," the manager handed the man the papers he needed to sign and soon they were driving off. Al was excited when he saw the direction because it was not far from the Hughes residence, but when he saw where it was, the excitement left him.

It was an old house, and it looked like it might fall down any minute, "who...Who are you, Sir?" Alphonse asked.

"Envy. Least, that's what I've been nicknamed. I'm not the one dealing with you brats. That's your Fathers job...Turns out he's actually your Father,"

"D-Daddy?" Alphonse whispered and Envy laughed.

"Geez kid, how old are you, six? Still calling him Daddy,"

Ed had his head lowered and he shook in anger and fear; they were going to be living with that bastard? The one who killed their mom and tried to kill them? 'No!' he thought, 'it can't be true!'

They pulled up to the house and Envy opened the door so the boys could get out and they walked inside, "Father!" Envy called, "I've brought them!"

"Good, Envy, very good," and Hohenheim came out from the shadows, "welcome home, my sons,"

"But its only been a few days! How can they have been adopted!" Maes Hughes demanded.

"I sorry, man comes to adopt, I say okay, he signs papers, takes children and goes. I not know where," the manager tells him.

"Pathetic! This place will be reported!" Maes shouted as he left.

************a*week*later**********

Gracia awoke to the sound of the phone ringing shrilly, and went to answer it.

"Hello?" she asked sleepily.

"Ms. Gracia? Please! Help us, I-it's Daddy, he's the one that-!" a young voice cried hysterically.

"A-Alphonse?" Gracia asked unsurely.

"Yes! Please, it's not far from your house! Daddy's...He killed Mom, and tried to kill me! He hurt Brother, and now..." the young boy started gasping desperately for air he wasn't getting.

"Calm down, Alphonse," Gracia motioned for her husband to come over from where he was standing and she quickly explained what was going on and he started tracking the number, being in the military he had the equipment to do so.

"Al, stay on the phone, we're tracking your location. Now, where is Edward?" Gracia asked worriedly.

"He's-They're-Please, just come!" Alphonse cried.

"Got it! I'm calling the police now, Gracia, bring the phone, we're going too," Maes threw on a jacket and so did Gracia.

"Alphonse, honey, we know where you are, and we're coming, don't worry,"

Alphonse sniffed, "Kay...Hurry please...Brother...I dunno how long he can keep them distracted,"

The couple got in the car and sped the six blocks to the house where the police were waiting.

"Alright, sir, we are in position, on your signal," one of the officers said to Maes.

"There are two boys in there, one ten, the other eleven, the youngest has a phone and name is Alphonse Elric. The other is Edward Elric, and may be hurt. There are two men in there, one of which is Hohenheim, the father of the two boys. He is a murderer, and must be apprehended. The other goes by the name of Envy and is an accomplice. Anyone else in there is to be taken in for questioning. Move!" Maes shouted.

The officers ran inside and within ten minutes the place was under control, and Maes and his wife went in to see if the boys were alright, but they weren't prepared for what came next.

**So, there we go. Pretty intense eh? I actually wasn't intending on updating today, because my senior drama windup was today after school, so I figured, todays gonna be good, I'll wait until my days not so great to hear from people, but then I find out that due to my mom working till 5, may dad working till 6, and my brother (who's wanted to stay on his own at home for a few hours for almost a year now) all of a sudden doesn't want to. So guess who gets to stay home because we can't get a babysitter right now. You guessed it. ITS ME! I get to miss swimming, to stay home with my bratty little brother. Not. Fun.**

**Anyway, please review with the good, the bad, or the spelling errors (gramatical errors not so much, because chances are, I wont fix them. (Screw grammer.)**

**And the final update will be up, probably by sometime next week. Not sure, we'll see how things work out. If it isn't up by next friday, life has probably screwed me over again.**


	20. Rekindled Trust

**Alright guys, here it is. The final chapter, the one you have all been waiting for. Chapter twenty is finally here! I'm actually really sad though, because I enjoyed going online and looking at the comments left by y'all, hearing what ya had to say, and just generally knowing that you guys wanted me to keep writing. It made me feel really good. Ah well, I suppose that the sooner I get the sequel done, the sooner I'll see your names coming up again.**

**Anyway, I know this is going to sound super cheesy and cliche, but I want to thank each and every one of you guys who has faved, commented, or even just come across my story and read it, It's people like you who keep the writers want to keep on writing. **

**silferdeath: here's the final chapter, hope this meets your satisfaction.**

**St. Iggy: You've been so loyal, commenting on this story so much, and I really appreciate it. I hope to see you when I finish the sequel. Enjoy!**

**Fanged Alchemist: I love chapter 19 too. This one's short, but a lot happens. Hope you like it :D**

**Raven of the Willows: Another short one, but a lot happens. And I agree. Angsty Ed is fun to read (im sadistic, I know) but Al? Nope. He's too cute to have angst :D**

**Sathreal: The suspense is over! Chapter 20 is here!**

**Lady of the Times: Thank you! Here's the final chapter, but I will post another when the sequel is done.**

**As a Jester Fool and Joker: Ah, another loyal commenter. Thanks for reading this and sticking with it, even when I was slow on updating. Ed's one of my favorites too. Haha, I guess I have stuck him in the hospital a lot, haven't I? A good portion of this fic was with him in the hospital, but here's the final chapter.**

**Eternal Love's Eclipse: I really appreciate the critiques you have left me and your honesty in my writing. I know several of my chapters were really short, but you still stuck by and read this. Thank you for that. Anyway, its not too long, but a lot happens, and its got a cliche happy ending. :D**

**awesomenaruto: Whoa! thats actually a good thought...anyway. Here's the final chapter. and thanks so much for sticking with this FF.**

**DeathBySugarCube: Nope. never catching a break. You'll find out. and don't worry. Cliffies are over now, until the sequel...Anyway, thanks for sticking with the FF. and enjoy the sequel. I mean chapter. But I hope when the sequel comes youll enjoy that too.**

**Joker Oak: Major eh? Yeah, well, thats no longer an issue, cuz this fic is done :( Thanks for the comments and I hope you'll read the sequel, whenever I finish it.**

**Anyway, onto the final chapter, and I know I haven't said this much, but just to confirm, I don't own FMA, I just write fics. ENJOY!**

"Alphonse," Gracia whispered quietly, nearing the boy before her who was clutching the phone tightly as he looked at his brother. The older Elric was lying on his side, eyes shut, and barely alive.

"He's hurt...Because of me..." Alphonse whimpered, "I just...I wanted Daddy, but...That man isn't him. Daddy wasn't like that, he didn't hurt Brother. That man killed Mom, and tried to kill us. He looks like Daddy, and has the same name and smell...But he's not Daddy!" Alphonse cried.

Edward twitched at hearing his brothers raised voice, and his eyes opened slowly, "M-ms. Gracia?" he murmured softly looking at the woman next to him and his brother, "y-you came," the weak voice was a cross between surprise and relief and he forced himself up to crawl closer to her before passing out, smile on his face as Gracia caught him. Maes looked from the doorway and saw his wife with both boys asleep on her lap. They looked at each other and nodded...

***********a*week*later***********

"-Hohenheim, for first degree murder on several military officers, second degree murder of your wife, Trisha Elric, and several other people, and two accounts of attempted murder on your sons, we find you, guilty! Envy! For first degree murder on several military officers, second degree murder on several people, the possesion of illegal substances, and attempted murder on two minors, we also, find you guilty!" The judge hit the hammer against the podium and four officers came up front to take the two men away

The two brothers hugged each other smiling, their father hadn't gotten away with killing their mother and hurting them, and he wouldn't be able to hurt them again.

"Now then," the judge cleared his throat, "I believe there is still the matter of the care and housing of the two boys?"

Maes stood up and cleared his throat, "your honor, my wife and I would like to adopt these two children," he told the judge, glaring at the men as they were escourted from the room where they would then be locked in a high security prison.

Edward and Alphonse looked at each other, shock on their faces.

"Oh really?"

"Yes, your honor. We cared for these boys when they first came to Central, and we would like to care for them permanently,"

"Well, there's the paperwork to be filled out, and a social worker will visit from time to time to check on you and make sure they aren't being mistreated...But unless the boys object, I don't see why we couldn't work something out." the judge smiled, "what do you think boys?"

Al bounced excitedly in his seat and nodded his head excitedly, and the judge laughed before turning his attention to the older one. Edward hadn't said anything since the incident in the house and he had a large cut on his forehead that was covered with gauze from fighting with his father. Both boys had been staying at the hospital since then and Maes and Gracia had visited them everyday and promised they wouldn't have to go back to the orphanage ever again, but neither thought it would ever lead to an adoption. They had thought that it just meant another orphanage was going to take them. Both boys had secretly hoped the Hughes's would adopt them, and now the option was being lain out in front of them.

"Edward? Is everything alright?" Hughes asked. a thought occured to him; Edward hadn't wanted to stay with them, and when he finally warmed up to the idea of staying with him and his wife, they had sent him off to an orphanage, and then been hurt, nearly _killed_. Why would he want to stay with them after all they had done?

Edward was silent for another moment. He looked seriously at Al who was looking at him hopefully, and then to Maes and Gracia Hughes, who had reminded him what it was like to have a family again. He looked down at his watch, which had been stolen by Hohenhiem but Maes had gone through the trouble of getting it back for him. He looked up at the judge who was patiently awaiting his answer. He looked at the door his biological father had been taken out and thought.

If he refused then he and Al would be taken to an orphanage except...Al had accepted the offer, so Ed would be the only one sent there where'd he'd have to stay until he was either adopted, or old enough to live on his own. Either way it was doubtful he'd see Alphonse again, and he did like staying with the Hughes's. Al certainly did in any case. They had been so nice to them, even when he didn't really deserve it and even now, with them knowing how he had felt about them and their purpose and with his attitude...And they still wanted to give him and his brother a place to call home...With these thoughts weighing heavily on his mind, he slowly, almost cautiously, raised his hand, which came as a surprise to everyone, "w-would we...Have to change our names?" he asked.

"You could keep your last name, yes," the judge told him and Edward took his brothers hand under the table and looked up at Maes and Gracia Hughes who were sitting next to him, a real smile on his face for the fist time since the night his family had been ripped apart so violently, one so full of love and hope as he spoke his next words.

"Then...Then yes. I'd like to stay with them; for good," Alphonse sighed in relief when his older brother said that, the older boy had finally found someone he trusted, and now, they had a home...

£££££££££££THE END£££££££££££

**I lengthened it a little bit and I really think that it helped it. Anyway, thats the end of this story guys. I hope you all liked it and I really hope that you guys will come up with suggestions on a sequel. I've just started chapter 4 so its still in the early stages and easily changed up. I really really do hope you'll come back when the sequel is posted, and again, I really appreciate how patient you have all been with this Thank you so much.**

**Oh, and for those who have this on story alert, dont take it off yet, because I'll tag a little prologue for the sequel in here as a chapter 21 so you'll know what to look for.**

**Again, thanks to all those who have given me feedback and I hope you'll all review and give me some ideas for the sequel.**

**Cya's laters**


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